


What Makes a Savage?

by Pinkroseutena



Category: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Movies), War of the Planet of the Apes (2017)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Brother-Sister Relationships, Brutality, Dark Past, Depression, F/M, Family Drama, Female OC had to learn to survive and adapt at a young age, Flashbacks, Forbidden Love, Forgiveness, Friends to Lovers, Hate, Hurt/Comfort, Insanity, Interspecies Relationships, Interspecies Sex, Love, Murder, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Platonic Relationships, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Scars, Sickness, Slavery, Slow Burn, Strong Female Characters, Suicide Attempt, Torture, Trauma, Unplanned Pregnancy, predijuce
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2018-12-09 11:01:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 35
Words: 83,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11667801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinkroseutena/pseuds/Pinkroseutena
Summary: The Ape king freed his apes from humans, He was  a great ruler, A loving father and husband,  but only few know about his true origins, about his human family"His name was Caesar....and he was my brother."





	1. Interragation

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so this is my first time doing a fan fic for a live action film, usually I do cartoons or animation but this film series has been stuck in my head recently So I decided to do one about this lol I hope you like it :)

 

She watched as water dripped from the pipe on the wall in a daze, she didn't know how long she had been sitting on the steel chair in the cold basement but it seemed endless. A man sat at a table 4 feet in front of her setting up a camera.

 

  
"Interrogation 1 of Iris Eileen Rodman, Date December 2 2029, 8:59 am."

  
"Iris Eileen Rodman age 26, height  5'6, weight 120, hair color dark brown,eye color hazel, born October 6 2003, daughter of William Rodman AKA one of the creators of the Simian Flu" he said as he looked over papers inside the files.

 

"Assault, Assault, Assault, Assault with a deadly weapon, Assault with a deadly weapon, Assault with a deadly weapon, Assault and Battery, Kidnapping, Attempt Murder, Murder, Arson, and the list goes on and on but pretty much all the same, from what I'm reading you were quite a spitfire, a lose cannon, but when I look at you now...all I can see is a walking dead person."

 

She looked at the man with tried and worn eyes through lose hair covering her face, if one couldn't tell of the years of pain and struggle just by looking into her eyes they could just look at the scars that covered most of her body.

 

"And these are just the crimes you have comitting against your own kind....while we don't have official record of what crimes you committed against the apes we've heard stories....it also seems the list of crimes against humans is much longer."

 

She just continued to stare at him expressionless.

 

"You've definitely made a name for yourself with both species...I've heard different stories about you and frankly I don't know which to believe, Half of them say your a monster and the other half says you're just trying to do what's right for both species....So which one is true?"

 

"How about I tell you a story.... about the ape messiah and I " she said quietly.

 

He raised a eyebrow at her.

 

"His name was Caesar....and he was my brother."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made Iris look like the actress Troian Bellisario


	2. Beginning of the Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris begins her story

The interrogator stared at her for a few minutes in thought.

  
"And where does this story begin Ms. Rodman?"

 

She brought her hands together.

  
"Just call me Iris....it will begin a month after the ape called Koba lead the attack against the human colony."

  
"I'm surprised your not going to talk about the beginning...where it all started."

  
"If you have files on me from what I've done the last 13 years...then I don't think you be stupid enough not do your research of _our_ origins" she said straight to the point.

  
He chuckled a little at her comment.

  
"Well they did say you are clever...well you would have to be after all the shit you pulled off, yes we do know about both of your origins but there are some blanks we like to fill."

  
"I think my story will fill most...of your blanks and when I'm finished...you can decide yourself which one is the savage race."

 

* * *

  
**Muir Park Woods, 2026 3 years ago**

  
She was hiking through the woods for a while now, trying to reach a certain destination, after 30 minutes of walking she had finally reached it at the edge of a mountain. She started to climb up it, most people wouldn't climb up with out the proper equipment or least make sure it was safe first and this mountain definitely wasn't sturdy enough to climb but something being unsafe has never stopped Iris before. She's been climbing as long as she could remember and there was a reason she needed to climb this mountain. She was trying to get a herb called Rhodiola Rosea aka Rose Root. After climbing about 3 minutes she finally found the yellow flower plant next to her about 2 feet away, she carefully started to make her way over trying not to lose her footing, after a couple of seconds she made it over to the little ledge the herb was sitting on.

  
"There you are you little devil, been looking for you" she said sort out of breath while pulling the herb out.

  
While pulling she lost her footing, trying to keep her balance she leaned her back against the wall of the mountain  with one hand gripping on a random rock and her other hand holding on to the herb.

  
"Fuck" she gasped as she looked down noticing she was 10 feet above ground.

  
"That would have been a nasty slide" she said raising her head against the mountain and took some deep breaths before she started to chuckle, full of adreniline.

  
Most people wouldn't chuckle about almost getting seriously hurt but Iris was kind of a daredevil so she was kind of use to it. She put the herb in the brown bag that was hanging from her shoulder and was about to climb down but she had a look up and started to have a thought. It was probably the adreniline but she decided to climb to the top, it only took her another 3 minutes until she got to it. She pulled herself up and turned around to look at the view. She could see the sun shinning on the trees and the river, she stared in awe. She turned her gaze to see part of the colony, the place she was driven out of a long time ago, her face scowled at the sight of it. She was happy she was no longer living in the place that treated her like shit just because she was Will Rodman's daughter and because they didn't really like her _beliefs_. She had been living in these woods by herself for 5 years now but frankly she didn't know why she didn't try to leave this park a long time ago espeacily since there was a good chance that she would run into _him_ eventually.

  
She had _memories_ of this park most of them where good but they where still depressing to think about. Not wanting to remember the past she started to climb down and headed home.

 

* * *

 

After awhile she eventually reach her home, it was a old ranger station. She looked down at herself to see her baggy white shirt was covered in dirt, along with with her jeans, her puffy dark blue winter jacket and her brown boots.

  
"Great going have to wash these later" She grumbled.

  
She walked up the steps of her home when she felt a presence coming up behind her. When you've lived out in the woods alone as long as she had you pick on a few things. She slowly pulled out her knife in her back pocket.

  
"Iris-

  
The person never got to finish because she spun around to slam her arm in the persons throat along with getting her knife ready though she stopped her action when she saw who it was.

  
"Fuck! Malcolm! I've told you not to sneak up on me like that!" she said as she lowered herself to him who was choking on the ground.

  
She patted his back trying to help him catch his breath.

  
"God!...Do you!...Have to!... Do that!" he said in between chokes.

  
"Hmmm let's see, I'm a young woman living alone in the woods in a apocalyptic world... yea I think I'm aloud to do that" she told him sarcastically." Besides your fine you big wuss" she said as she helped him up.

  
"Honestly I'm surprised I didn't run into your dog first" he said after he got up.

  
"Bruce? He should be around here some where, Oh there he is" she said as she spotted a German shepard came running towards them, once he got closer he started to jump on Malcolm, excited to see him.

  
"Ok ok down boy" she said as she grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and made him sit.

  
"So what do want?" she asked with her arms crossed.

  
He sighed.

  
"I need your help."

  
"With what?" she asked with a raised eyebrow not liking to where this was leading.

  
"Some people have gone missing from the colonly, scavengers, they were last seen in the woods there's already soldiers patroling the colonly and with everything that happened a month ago people are scared, I managed to convince the soliders to let us set up a small search party-

  
"No" she cut him off plainly and turned around to walk to the back of her home, Bruce following closely behind.

  
"Iris please" he said following her.

  
" If you recall Malcolm they hate me just because I'm that _man_ ' _s_ daughter, do actually think a group of them is going to want to work with me let alone listen to me" she said as she got to her destination which was manmade coop with pigeons in it, she bent down to pick up a water can and opened the coop to pore more water into their water cups.

 

"Iris they want to use this as excuse to call in the rest of them, The colony may be scared, but we definitely don't want more soliders coming, Hell we didn't want them to come here in the first place."

  
"Yea blame that idiot Dreyfus for that one" she scoffed.

  
"I amit that what he did was stupid-

  
"Stupid! More like the most dumbest fucking thing that anyone could ever do! But then again he was a dumb fuck so it's not really a suprise!" she said as she slammed the bucket on the ground angrily.

 

"If they call the rest in they'll take over, you've had _experience_ with them you know what will happen, not everyone in the colony deserves to go through that.... You know how to do certain _things..._ please I really need help with this Iris" he said.

  
She could see the desperation in his eyes, she sighed and ran her hand through her semi long hair.

  
"Let me get some stuff inside and then I'll come out to meet you."

  
"Thank you" he said relieved.

  
"Yea yea" she grumbled past him to head back into her home with Bruce following behind her.

  
When she got in she started packed the essentials she needed, after she finished that she went over to the part of the room where she hid her weapons which where in this old trunk, she mostly had knives, one old hand gun, 3 bb guns, and one sniper rifle. She didn't like guns, and didn't use them but it didn't mean she didn't know how to use them they were more like hand me downs then anything, she didn't mind using the bbs though. She decided to use a machete and she put it in her belt. After getting everything she needed she headed back outside where Malcolm was.

  
"Ready?" he asked.

  
She nodded and signaled for Bruce to follow her.

  
"Your bringing Bruce ?" he asked.

  
"He can help us track" she said as walked passed him and he followed after her.

 

When they got deeper into the woods Iris could see a 2 men along with Alex who was the only one that wasn't giving her a cold glare.

  
"So you already gathered them, why didn't you guys come with him to meet me?"

  
"We didn't want you to shoot us" one said who she recognised as James, He has messy brown hair with a flannel shirt.

  
"I wouldn't have shot you, punched you maybe but not shot you" she said as she rolled her eyes.

  
"You shot me before!"

  
"With bbs and you didn't die James, besides you pissed me off."

  
"When are you not pissed off Iris?" he asked angrily.

  
"I don't know James,when are you not a dumb ass?"

 

Alex chuckled at her comment, James glared hard at her.

 

"Ok Ok both you calm down before you both start something, we got a job to do remember" Malcolm said trying to defuse the situation while walking ahead pushing James forward.

 

"Hi Alex " she said softly.

 

He went over to hug her gently which she returned, Bruce then started to nudge him affectionately.

 

"Looks like he's missed you"

 

"Hey Bruce" he said while petting him.

 

They then went to follow the rest of the group.

 

* * *

 

 

The scavaging group had headed to the other side of the woods at the end, from what Malcolm told her when some of the military started coming and started to bring supplies, others started to go out of the colony to find their own supplies, they knew if they used the military's as a crutch it would help them take over more. Iris gave Bruce a command to track while looking around herself, he had been searching around that area for about 10 minutes now.

 

"What's he looking for?"Alex asked.

 

"Some thing that doesn't belong" She said softly.

 

Bruce then signaled that he found something by barking. She went over to him crouched down to see at large portion of disturbed dirt that has some blood.

 

"Is that blood?" Alex asked a little scared.

 

She carefully walked closer while crouching to see that the blood trail was going down a little hill, she looked to find the 4 missing scavagers...dead and covered in blood.

 

 

"Alex go get you father...." she said quietly in shock.

 

"Why?" he asked as he went over to see what she was looking at.

 

"Alex! don't-"she tried to stop him but it was too late, he saw what she was looking at and the next thing he did was hurl up his breakfast at the sight.

 

"Go get your father Alex..." she told him again gently.

 

He nodded quickly and ran off, not wanting to be near the sight anymore. She went down the hill soon after he left signaling for Bruce to follow her. She bent down to look at a man, she could see he had been slashed near his stomach, arm and neck by what appeared to be done by a sharp object, mostly likely a knife but then again she wasn't so sure because the slashs where almost ragged, like they couldn't cut through easily or cleanly. It was like that for the other 3 as well but the only difference was the slashes where different parts of their bodies and some had more then three of them.

 

She then felt a presence behind her, she slowly turned around while gripping on her machete, for all she knew it could be the murderer standing behind her. When she finally turned around she saw it was a gray ape holding a bow.

 

 _"I don't want any trouble"_ She signed quickly, lowering herself closer to ground while avoiding eye contact, trying make herself submissive.

 

The ape was shocked that she could sign but he snapped out of it quickly when he moved his head to the side to look behind her, seeing the dead bodies. She knew what he was thinking and it wasn't good.

 

" _I know what this looks like!but I swear-_ but she never got to finish what she was signing because he growled and pointed his bow at her.

 

" _Ok Ok"_ she signed as she bent her head down then slowly bringing up her hand submissively. She knew could handle him with out a problem, but she didn't do anything because she knew he wasn't the murderer and knew he was only doing this because he felt threatened. Bruce started to growl at him getting ready to pounce, the ape returned the favor.

 

"Bruce heel!" she yelled but never bringing up her head, he reluctantly obeyed her.

 

 

"Enough!" a voice yelled.

 

 

Even though she hadn't heard that voice in such a long time she recognised it immediately, it was someone she was afaird to meet again.

 

She could tell they were signing to each other but couldn't make it out because she still had her head lowered.

 

The new ape walked closer to her until he stopped right in front of her, She could tell he was surprised at the submissive gesture she was doing since only apes do it and knew what it meant.

 

"What...happened...here?" he asked.

 

"I don't know..." she said quietly.

 

She could feel him looking her and she noticed her handmade braclet on her submissive hand caught his eye, she flinched when he grabbed her hand to take a closer look at it, he then pulled up her sleeve and turned her arm around to see a scar in the middle of her arm that sort of looked like a star, She looked up a little to see his eyes widen a little in shock, while she had a lot of scars on both of her arms, this one was most important to him.

 

His hand then gently but firmly grabbed her chin to bring her head up to look at him, green eyes met hazel, it was then his suspicions were confirmed when he looked into her eyes.

 

"Iris...." he said softly in disbelief and shock.

 

"Hello Caeser...." she said quietly.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this chapter was longer lol I'm tried now cause I've been writing this bit by bit though out the day while doing chores and errand lolXD right now writing 2 other stories along with school coming up so I won't know when I can update again but I'll try to be soon :)


	3. Meeting again

" I do remember a report about a qaud-triple homicide that happened in Muir Park about 3 years ago, it was listed as _cold_."

 

She scoffed weakly.

 

"Of course _they_ put it on record as that, hard to remain in power when people don't trust you, it was listed as something else before but we figured out the truth, they changed it to that so they wouldn't look bad" she said softly with her gaze looking at her hands.

  
"By you mean _they_? you mean-

  
"I think you know very well who I mean" she cut off him curtly.

 

The room became silent.

 

"You said they were not killed by a _normal weapon_ , what did you mean by that?" he asked breaking the silence.

 

"Because it wasn't normal....the weapon was as sharp as a blade but didn't cut through cleanly as one....I thought it could be a piece of glass or a sharp stone but I didn't really know at the time....and the way they were killed was just overkill...it was almost....savage...it didn't even make sense why they were killed, they didn't have weapons and the items they found from scavaging were still with them...the murder seemed pointless....but nothing really surprises me anymore considering the world we live in now" she said getting lost in thought while rubbing a couple scars on one of her arms.

 

"How did you feel seeing _him_ again after all those years" he asked snapping her out her thoughts.

 

 

She brought her head up to look at him

 

  
"I don't really know to describe it.....happy, scared, and sad came in all at once and I didn't know how to process it...I knew I would run into him again eventually....but I wasn't emotionally or mentally prepared for it" She said as she was playing with her braclet.

* * *

  
**Muir Park, 3 years ago**

 

They didn't move or say anything, they only stared at each other, Caesar still looking at her shocked while Iris looked at him expressionless but was really trying bury the anxiety she was actually feeling, she looked behind him too see a couple of apes staring at both them in confusion.

 

"IRIS! I FOUND MY DAD!" Alex screamed breaking the silence.

 

She snapped her head around to see it was Alex with his father and the two others coming down the hill but they soon stopped what they where doing when they saw the scene and the apes, James and the other man pulled out guns getting ready to fire, the apes growled at them getting their arrows ready as well.

 

"DON'T SHOOT!" Malcolm yelled while grabing a hold of James's gun, he turned to look at Caesar who was glaring at the two holding the guns.

  
"THEY KILLED THEM!" James yelled trying shake him off.

 

"They didn't! Iris and I found them like this!" Alex protested.

 

  
"DROP THE GUN JAMES!" Malcom demaneded.

 

Bruce started to growl at the tension.

 

Iris looked back in forth at the situation forgeting who standing infront of her for a minute, with both sides having weapons and with tempers flying, it was only matter of time that someone was going to get shot by a bullet or an arrow. She quickly stood up and spun around to glare at James.

 

"JAMES!!! IF YOU AND YOUR FRIEND DON'T DROP THE FUCKING GUNS RIGHT NOW I'M GOING TO COME OVER THERE, SHOVE IT DOWN YOUR THROAT AND PULL THE TRIGGER!!!!" she screamed at him.

 

 

They stopped their yelling to look at her, even the apes where shocked by her ferociousness. James glared at her as he tightly gripping his gun.

 

"Do you really want to have a go at me James....." she said softly as walked over to him slowly, he twitched a little in fear.

 

"Because If I recall last time that didn't end up so well for you....so trust me when I say that gun won't protect you from me" she said with malice.

 

When she got closer she grabbed the gun from him, believing her threat he didn't fight back. The next thing she did shocked everyone there, she took the back of the gun and slammed it into the side of his face causing him to fall straight onto his but.

 

"Ackk! Dammit Iris!" he yelled in pain while holding his face.

 

"I told you not to piss me off" she said quietly.

 

"Ok enough both of you!" Malcolm interuppted them as he grabbed James by the shirt dragged him away from the hill, the other man following them.

 

"She hit me!"

  
"Yea be happy she didn't shoot you."

 

Malcolm dragged him a distant away from the hill then pushed him down to sit on a rock and told him not move and he didn't, probably in fear of facing Iris's wrath. He then walked back over to the scene over to Caesar. Alex hadn't left the top of the hill, he obviously didn't want to be near the bodies.

 

 

"Hello Caesar" he said softly.

 

"Malcolm..."

 

Iris watched them start conversing with each other, while she was a little surprised they knew each other, she was too busy trying deal with her overwhelming anxiety and the situation at hand to put much thought into it. She held her head while trying to keep her breathing steady bringing her other hand to hold her chest. It was around that time that both of them noticed her condition.

 

"Iris? Are you alright?" Malcolm asked with concern.

 

She turned to look at Caesar who looked back at her with an unreadable expression along what she thought was a hint of worry in his eyes. She quickly snapped her gaze away, unable to keep it any longer.

 

"I'm fine....Can I talk to you" she said quietly while gesturing for him to come over to her.

 

He walked over to her confused why she was acting like this. When he got over to her she leaned in close to talk to him.

 

"This killing isn't normal Malcolm....." She said quietly.

 

"What do you mean?" he asked.

 

"They didn't have weapons or useful supplies.......so they weren't threats or good robbery targets.....and they were all killed the same way....almost savagely."

 

"Your not suggesting-

 

"I'm not saying the apes did it" She interrupted him.

 

"Then what are you saying?..." he asked confused.

 

"What I'm saying Malcolm is we have a physco in these woods but I'm not sure of what species."

  
She glanced a little at the apes who were curious and suspicious of what they were talking about.

  
Malcolm didn't seem surprised at this considering what happened a month ago.

 

"But the military will probably use this as an excuse to try to raid their village....your going to have to keep this on the down low for a little bit.....bring Ellie out here to do a official autopsy..."

  
Out of the corner of her eye she had saw a younger ape with blue eyes had walked over and started signing to Ceasar.

 

 _"Father who is this woman? do you know her?"_ he asked in confusion.

 

Iris could tell couple others were wondering the same thing as well. With her anxiety reaching a breaking point she quickly turned around to head back to her home.

 

  
"Com'on Bruce!" she said to the shepard, who instantly followed her.

 

 

"Iris! where are you going!?" Malcolm asked following after her.

 

 

"Home" she replied curtly.

 

"Iris..." Caesar said softly while taking a step forward.

 

  
She spun around and brought her arm out, gesturing to him to stop.

 

"Just don't....." She said softly.

 

He looked at her sadly.

 

Unable to look at him anymore she quickly turned back to the direction of her home and hurried off.

 

"Iris! IRIS!" Malcolm called out to her but by that time she was already a distance away.

 

* * *

 

Wanting to get away from that area as quickly as possible she started to run the rest of the way back home, Bruce staying right on her tail. When her and Bruce finally got back home, she slammed the door behind them and started to hyperventilate, she ran her hands threw her hair and started to pace around the room. She then started to desperately search for the herb she brought home that day, since she wasn't thinking clearly she didn't remeber where she put it which made have more anxiety.

 

When she did find it she started to crumble and smash it until it was powder, she then procided to put it into a incense pot she had on the table. She then hesitantly grabbed a match and trembled as she lit it, she hasn't liked fire for awhile now but in cases like these she had to use it. She quickly put the match under the pot, not wanting to hold the match anymore and after a minute the incense started to fill the room. She walked backwards with her eyes closed until she hit a wall causing her to slide down it until her but hit the floor, her head leaned against the wall faced up while one of her hands played with her braclet. She began to remember the past.

 

**Flashback 18 years ago**

 

_"Dad, Iris, we are going to have guest stay with us for awhile" her father Will said to her and her gandfather as he put a box on the table._

  
_Iris who was curious went over and opened the box to look inside and found a baby chimp._

_"He's so cute" she said in awe._

  
_She then reached her hand to the baby who instantly grabbed her finger which made her smile brightly. Her Grandfather then picked him up to lift up in the air while smiling at him as well._

_"What's his name Daddy?" she asked._

** End of Flashback **

No longer being able to hold it in she started to sob hard and curled up into a ball.

 

 


	4. 10 long years

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris and Caesar talk...things get heated.

"Why did you hurry home just to burn that plant in the incense pot? What was it called?....Rose Root?" he asked curiosly.

  
"I have.....anxiety problems, Rose Root helps treat it.... I felt like I was going to have an anxiety attack so that's why I ran back home."

  
The man looked over some papers with his expression remaining blank.

  
"It says at age 17 when you entered the colony you where diagnosed with PTSD along with social anxiety" he said as he looked up from the paper to look at her.

  
Her expression never changed but her hands that were in her lap made a slight twitch.

 

"To be diagnosed with both of those at such a young age.....you must been through much hardship."

 

She gripped her hands tightly together.

 

"It also say they tried to give you medication to help with your diagnosises....but you strongly refused it, why?"he asked he put the paper down to look at her.

 

"I have bad exprience with drugs and I went through hell trying to get off them...I didn't want to go through that again....that's why I use Rose Root and tea."

  
"Why did you start using drugs in the first place?" he asked as he rested his arms on the table.

  
"I didn't really have choice in matter..... _they_ forced them on me....easier to control _us_ I geuss" she practically growled.

  
He looked at her deep in thought for a few seconds before he said something.

 

"Do you still have nightmares Iris?" he asked straightforwardly.

  
She looked at him dead in the eye.

 

"I always have nightmares, even when I'm awake..."

 

* * *

 

**Muir Park 3 years ago**

  
When she woke up she realized she had fallen asleep  in the same place where she sat down when she got home yesterday, she had cried herself to sleep.

  
"Great...just great...." she said irritatedly as she rubbed the sleepiness out her eyes.

 

Bruce who had slept next to her woke up as well and started to lick her in the face.

  
"It's ok buddy, I'm ok now" she said  reassuring him with a smile while petting him.

  
Wanting some fresh air and to get rid of her sleepiness, she decided to go for a walk.

  
"You want to go for a walk?"she asked as him as she got off the floor and started to stretch.

  
He barked and wagged his tail happily in response.

  
"Aright let's go" she said as she opened the door and went outside with him following closely behind her.

  
Wanting fresh air wasn't the only reason she wanted to go out for a walk, she had to go to see if Malcolm found out anything after she left in the middle of the _situation_ that they had yesterday, she knew she shouldn't have done that but she wasn't really thinking straight yesterday.

  
But didn't know if she was going to find him because he probably might not be in the same spot anymore and she was banned from the colony so there was no way they were going to let her in, her only other option was to use one her pigeons to send a message to him.

She had began to walk in the woods when she then felt someone following her, Bruce began to notice too, he turned around to growl at the stalker. She stopped walking but didn't turn around, she already knew who it was.

  
"Bruce heel"she demanded.

  
He immediately listend to her and sat down.

  
She closed her eyes and took a deep sigh.

  
"How did you know where I live?"she asked softly.

  
"It...wasn't...hard...to...track...you"

  
She finally turned around to finally look at Caesar, she also noticed that his good friend Maurice was with him as well.

 

"It's been a long time" she said queitly, looking at him with tired eyes.

 

"10...years" he replied, his face showing no emotion.

  
She turned her gaze to the other ape.

 

" _Hello Maurice_ "She signed to him.

 

Maurice grunted in acknowledgement.

 

She then her gaze back to Caesar.

 

"What do you want?" She asked.

 

"Can...we...talk?"

 

They stared at each other for a couple seconds in silence until she took another deep sigh and then gestured them to follow her.

  
She had lead them to part of the river which had a rocky water front. She sat down near the water and Caesar sat down right next to her. Bruce who was next to Iris growled quietly at Caesar and Caesar in returned glared at him, he never really liked dogs. Wanting to distract the German Shepard Iris grabbed a random stick and threw it in the opposite direction and he chased after it. Maurice was off to side to give them space but was still close by.

 

They just stared at the river not yet looking at each other.

  
"How...long...have...you...lived...out...here?"

  
"About 5 years now."

 

He was a little surprised at this.

  
"You...shouldn't...be...out...here...by...yourself...It's...not...safe."

  
She gripped her hands tightly.

  
"I'm not a little girl anymore, I can take care of myself" she said as turned her head to slightly to look at him.

  
He looked at her seriously.

  
"Apes...now...know...you...live...out...here...they...feel...threatened..."

  
She done a good job keeping under the radar for the last 5 years by staying out the apes territory and not drawing to much attention to herself but after the incident yesterday it was out the bag now.

  
"What are you trying to say Caesar?" she asked him getting annoyed.

  
Bruce came back with the stick and She threw it again.

  
"I've...told...them...to...leave...you...alone...but...I...don't...know...if...some...won't...listen"

  
She scoffed.

  
"Not...to...mention...there's...a...killer...out...here...you...need...to...go...the...human...colony-

 

"They kicked me out me out Caesar!" she snapped at him.

 

He was shocked by this revelation.

 

"They kicked me out 5 years ago!That's why I live out here!" she yelled.

  
She ran a hand through her hair in fustration.

  
"Why...did...they...do...that?" he asked.

  
She gripped her hands tighter and took a deep breath.

 

"For the 8 months I lived there, most of colonist treated me like shit and one night...3 guys took it too far....they jumped me when I was walking back to my apartment and they beat me...I tried to defend myself and I ended giving one of the guys a concussion...It didn't matter to them that they attacked me first or that they broke my wrist or that I was black and blue...they just used it as excuse to finally get rid of me...to leave a teenage girl alone to defend herself..." She said while trying not to choke up.

  
He looked at her sadly.

  
"Why-

  
"Why do they hate me?" she cut him curtly.

 

She was now staring directly at him.

 

"Do you really have to ask that? Do you not remember what our father created, what started all the death and chaos" she said quietly.

  
She started to remember things that she didn't want to remember.

  
"The man everyone hated was no longer here, so they used his daughter as scapegoat for their hate." she told him depressingly, tears threatening to fall.

 

"What...do...you...mean...father...is...no...longer...here?" he asked but dreaded the response.

  
Tears then began to fall from her eyes.

  
"Dad's dead Caesar...he dead a year after you left..."

  
Anguish and disbelief fell on his face upon her revelation.

 

"How?..." he asked.

 

"He was murdered...."her words trembled as she said them.

  
She could see a tear come out of one his eyes.

  
"And...Caroline?" he asked hoping she was still alive.

  
"I- I don't know...she dissapered shortly before dad died" she said queitly as she quickly wiped her eyes with her hand.

  
"I need to go" she said as she stood up and started to walking away.

  
"Iris..wait" he said as he got up and grabbed her arm.

 

She turned around to glare at him.

 

"Don't tell me how to live my life, when I never once told you how to live yours" she spat at him.

  
She then leaned in closer to him.

 

"I'm not the same person you once knew Caesar, I've been through _things_ in last 10 years that no child should ever gone through so trust me when I say this, who ever they are vengeful apes or physco humans, I'll fight them like hell if they try to go at me"she promised him.

  
She could tell he believed her when he looked into her eyes.

 

"Why do you care anyways...you haven't for the last 10 years" she said as she yanked her arm from his grip.

 

He tried to protest but she cut him off before he could.

 

"Let's just go on to pretend the other one doesn't exist, that should make everybody happy right, you've been doing a good job of it so far" she said as she turned around started to walk off and this time he didn't try to stop her.

 

"Bruce Com'on!" She yelled for him to follow her.

  
Bruce who was chewing on the stick quickly got up as soon as she called for him and followed after her. Leaving the two apes alone at the water front.

 

* * *

**Blue Eyes POV**

His father and Maurice had been gone for awhile now, they have been acting strange since they saw Malcolm and that woman with the dead humans yesterday. Of course anyone wouldn't act normal after finding mutiple dead bodies but he  thought it had more to do with the woman. They seemed to know each other very well and bothered him that he was kept in the dark.

  
He had been sitting by a fire he made, cooking meat from the hunt that day when he noticed his father and Maurice had finally come back.

  
" _Father where have you been?_ " he signed.

  
Caesar didn't respond and walked right past him to strait up to their home where Corneila greeted him.

  
Blue saw his solemn expression and knew something had happened. He turned to Maurice for answers.

  
" _What's wrong with father?What happened?"_ he signed to Maurice worriedly.

  
Maurice sighed and sat down right next to him.

  
" _Your father found out some things today that deeply affected him_."

  
_"Was is because of that woman? Did she so something to him_?" he growled angrily as he signed.

 

" _It has more to do what was done to her and another person they loved very much"_ he sighed grimly.

  
Blue Eyes raised a eyebrow in confusion.

  
" _How does father know this woman?"_

  
Maurice knew he was dieing  for answers while knew he shouldn't be the one to tell him he believed he had the right to know.

  
" _She's your father's sister Blue Eyes, your aunt."_

  
Blue eyes fell to shock at this discovery.

 

* * *

 

Iris was burning the Rose Root again,  it was no surprise with everything that happen today. After she got home a hour ago she attatched a message to one of her pigeons to send to Malcolm. She couldn't deal with family drama right now not with the serious situation at hand. If the army fully takes over it wasn't going to be pretty for ethier species.

  
She sat at the table one her hands holding her head while her elbow rested on the table.

  
She looked out the window to notice it was raining. 

  
**Flashback 15 years ago**

_She felt tug on her arm which woke her from sleep and she turned to see a scared Caesar._

  
_"Caesar what are you doing up so late?" she asked with concern._

  
_Just then lightning stuck causing him to screech and hide under the covers of her bed straight into her arms trembling._

  
_"You don't like the lightning do you?"_

  
_She could feel his head shake vigorously._

  
_"It's ok it'll pass" she said trying to reassure him while stroking his head._

  
_He flinched and hugged her tighter when the lightning struck another time._

  
_She gently sushed him, their father was working late and so it was just them and their gandfather that where home but he hasn't been feeling well lately so Iris was helping out her father a lot more with both Caesar and him._

  
_" Do you want to sleep with me tonight?"_

  
_He quickly nodded._

  
_She tucked him in and wrapped her arms around him and started to sing to him, they fell asleep a couple minutes later._

  
**End of Flashback**

She snapped out her thoughts when she heard Bruce growling. She looked to see he was growling at the door, there was someone outside.

  
She quickly grabbed a knife on top the dresser behind her and made her way over to the door.

  
She opened the door to step outside but not leaving the patio. She looked around to notice anyone but didn't see anyone.

  
"Who's out there! If your planning on trying something I should warn you your going to end up in a world of hurt" She yelled.

  
There was no response.

  
"Caesar if that's you I'm really not in-

  
She cut herself off when she saw someone walk out of the woods and into the light.

  
It was a ape with blue eyes.

 


	5. Are you my Aunt?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris and Blue Eyes meet

"I knew your father had died but I never knew of what nature...most thought the Simian Flu killed him..." the man said queitly.

  
She chuckled grimly.

  
"Of course that would be karma, to be killed by the same virus you created..." She said with her hands clenched trying not to choke up.

  
"Did you ever find the person who killed him?....Was it even a person?" he asked curiously.

  
"Trust me it was a person...it saw myself..." she said softly with her eyes closed, tears now falling down her face.

  
"Are you telling me you witnessed it?"

  
"I witnessed the whole God damn thing..." she said hoarsely.

 

"Did you ever see the murderer again?" he asked getting interested.

 

She gritted her teeth.

 

"Yes..."

  
"What did you and your brother do when-

  
"Can we change the subject please!" she snapped at him.

  
The man quite taken back by her outburst, since she hadn't once raised her voice through the interview. He quickly regained his professional composure.

  
"Alright...Did you and your brother ever have disagreements before?"

 

"Believe it or not we were close as kids but after being separated for 10 years....going through what we went trough..."

  
She leaned back in the chair and sighed.

  
"We got older...things changed..." She said as she ran her hand through her hair.

  
He continued to listen.

  
"Even though there were times I wanted to punch him...he was my brother...I loved him...and he loved me as well but because I was so stupid it took me awhile to believe that he still did" She started to tear up at the last part.

  
"All siblings fight...it's pretty normal" the man said trying to reassure her.

 

"Yea but the figting would get so bad that I couldn't be around him for more than 10 minutes..."

  
"But you kept ending up going to  see him....why?"

  
She brought her hands together and gripped them.

  
"Blue Eyes...his son...would often come to see me and his wife Corneila, Blue Eyes mother would often invite me to come to their home....there was also certain _circumstances_ where I had no choice but to stay with them for a awhile...more then once...he was hard to avoid."

  
"So why didn't you refuse the invitations or turn Blue Eyes away."

  
She chuckled.

  
"Corneila was a stubborn female, it was hard to deny her...and Blue was as stubborn as both his parents combined so he would have kept coming back now matter what I did....Caesar was my brother so they considered me family..."She said softly.

She then closed her eyes tightly trying her best not to continue crying, remembering events from a year ago.

  
"Where you close to them?"

  
"Very...very close."

 

* * *

 

  
  ** Muir Park 3 years ago  
**

Iris wasn't asspecting this at all, she didn't know what to make of the this. Bruce was still growling so Iris hushed him.

 

" I remeber you, from yesterday...your his son arn't you?" She asked with her arms crossed.

 

He nodded.

 

He seemed a little nervous, like  conflicting emotions about being here or not.

 

"Your father doesn't know your here does?"she asked him plainly.

 

He avoided eye contact with her and shook his head slowly confirming to her.

 

Iris took a big sigh and ran her hand through hair.

 

"Get inside you shouldn't be out in the rain" she said as she gestured him to come into her home she also told Bruce to go back inside as well.

 

He he didn't move for the first couple of seconds but then hesitantly walked to up to her patio and into her house. When they got into the house she told him to sit down in one of the chairs at the table and she sat on the opposite side of it.

  
They sat in silence, he kept his face lowered but occasionally looked up to look at her.

 

"Ok you obviously have questions so just ask me" she told him.

 

"Are....You....really....my.....father's....sister?....Are....you....really....my....aunt?"he asked her but struggled to say the words do to that he was not use to talking.

 

 

"Technically yes....but I don't think he considers me that anymore" she told him plainly.

 

 

"How....come....-

 

"I understand sign language so you can just sign, I don't want you do something your not comfortable doing yet"She cut him off gently.

  
He became a little relieved at this.

 

" _How come he has never mention you?"_ he sighed.

 

"I don't know you would have to ask him..."She said as leaned her head against her hand.

 

"What's you name?" she asked him.

 

_"Blue Eyes"_

  
"I'm Iris..." She said softly as she reached her hand across the table to offer it to him, he looked it and then back at her before slowly reaching out to grab her hand gently.

  
A small smile fell on her face.

 

"Since your going to be here for while you might as well eat something" She said as she got up from the table walked over to a cupboard on the other side of the room.

  
She pulled out a plate with jerky and a slice bread on it and walked back over to place it infront of him. He looked it and then back at her unsure.

  
" _What is it?"  
_

  
"It's dried meat and bread."

  
He picked up some of it and started to inspect it.

 

"Just eat it, it won't kill you" she said sternly.

 

He slowly took a bite of the dry meat and started chewing.

 

"See not so bad is it"

  
He scoffed at her.

  
Bruce who then noticed food went over to the table but his ears went flat when he saw Blue Eyes. Blue Eyes turned his head to look at the dog and glared at him, Bruce started to feel threaten and growled at him Blue Eyes began to do the same in return.

 

"Ok none of that! "She said as she grabbed Bruce by the scruff of his neck and made him sit while standing between them. She then shot Blue Eyes a look that basically told him to knock it off, which he did quickly.

  
"I swear you and your father with dogs" she said underneath her breath.

  
She then gestured for his hand, causing him to look at her in confusion.

 

"Give me your hand"

  
He reluctantly gave her his hand.

  
"Make your hand into a fist, lean you head to side and make your face expressionless" she told him.

 

He looked even more confused by her command but did as he was told, she then gently pulled his clenched fist in front of Bruce. Bruce brought his nose up to Blue Eyes hand causing him to flinch his hand away a little bit.

  
"Let him smell you" she said softly, trying to resure him that it will be alright.

 

  
He took a breath and brought his hand back to his nose. Bruce sniffed him for a little bit then brought up his head to look at him curiously.

  
"Give him some of the dried meat now" she told him.

  
He took the meat off the plate and slowly gave it to Bruce which he gladly took. After he finished the offered meat he looked back at Blue Eyes.

  
Bruce wagged his tail and started to lick Blue Eyes hand. The blue eyed ape stared at the Shepard in confusion and awe.

  
"Don't judge things before you get to know them" she told him softly.

  
He looked her, not sure how to respond.

 

* * *

 

 

  
After the rain cleared Iris walked with Blue Eyes back home, they were almost there.

 

 _"I'm not a helpless child, You didn't have to come with me"_ he sighed as they walked.

 

"I know, but I just want to make sure you get back ok."

 

_"I still can't believe you've know where the village is"_

 

"How do think I've been living under on your guys radar for the last 5 years."

  
Blue Eyes felt a little insulted and sad at this comment.

  
Before they knew it they had reached the entrance. A group of gorillas and apes had soon came out and most started screeching and growling at the sight of Iris.

 

Caesar came out also looking angry but also relieved to see his son but surprised to see Iris. The Apes were all signing like crazy.

  
_"Why human here?!"_

  
_"She kidnapped Blue Eyes!"_

  
_"She didn't kidnap-_ Blue Eyes tried to sign to them but they were distracted by their arguing.

  
_"We must kill her! She Dangerous!"_

  
_"She just a female!"  
_

 

Iris held her head getting annoyed.

  
"This _female_ can understand what you all are saying!" she yelled.

 

This shut them up quickly but it only lasted about couple seconds because they then started screeching again, Caesar raised his hand silencing them all while keeping his gaze on her and his son.

 

Iris gestured for Blue Eyes to go to his father, He slowly walked over to him avoiding his gaze.

 

" _We will talk later"_ he signed to him sternly.

  
Blue walked past him and into the village with Caesar closely watching him.

 

"Don't be too hard on him"her voice cut him out of his thoughts

 

He turned back to look at her, she stood lazily with her arms crossed.

 

"He's a lot like you were...when you were that age"

  
With that she turned around and headed off. Some of the apes made movement to follow her.

  
"Leave her!" Caesar yelled at them and they reluctantly listened.

  
He then headed back into the village, concerned Rocket and Maurice then came up to their obviously worried and stressed out friend.

  
" _They definitely might try do something now that they know she knows where the village is...what do you want to do?"_ Maurice signed to him.

  
Caesar went deep into thought.

  
" _Do you want me to follow her?_ "Rocket asked.

  
He shook his head.

  
" _Let me Maurice do it, I'm going to need your help later"_ he signed as he look up to see his wife hug his eldest son infront of their home,both his friends followed his gaze.

  
" _What are you going to do?"_ Maurice asked

  
" _I'm going to have a talk with my son"_ he replied.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maurice is going to follow to Iris wonder how that's going to turn out everyone keeps coming to see Iris lol Not good for her social anxiety disorder xd not mention blue's in big trouble with his dad. I hope you enjoy :)


	6. Secerts Revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caesar, Cornelia, and Blue have a family discussion

"Weren't you afaird to go the ape colony? They could have easily taired you apart if Caesar  hadn't showed up and stopped them."

  
She looked at him expressionless.

  
"I've seen a lot things in the last 13 years sir....only few things scare me now and trust me they're frightening...I think the apes were more scared of me then anything....I'm not surprised considering what most of humanity has done too them....I don't even really love my own kind...and the good humans for some fucked up reason are always killed off while the bad ones still live"She said nonchalantly.

 

She then closed her eyes and tears started to fall down.

 

"You've lost both apes and humans you've cared about haven't you."

 

"I've lost more then you can ever imainge...." she said said quietly.

 

The man leaned back in his chair.

 

"Those bite marks that turned to scars on your lower neck, shoulder, collar bone, and the side of your arm make me have a hard time believing you were not afaird of them."

 

She opened her eyes to look at him and then slowly brought her hand up to her exposed neck were the scar was.

 

"While the bite is similar to a human the fanged indents proves to me that it was done by a ape."

 

They both stared at each other not saying anything.

 

" One of the apes....who hurt....me is long since dead....he died a couple months before I joined the colony" she said breaking the silence.

  
"Did you kill him?" He asked curiously.

  
She chuckled darkly.

  
"No that credit doesn't go to me....the one who killed him was another ape....the ape was Koba."

 

  
The man became shocked at this revelation.

 

  
"I thought Koba didn't go physchotic until after the apes found out there was still humans around the area?"

  
She scoffed.

  
"There was always something wrong with Koba....humans reappearing finally caused him to snap and become a full fledged physco....but I'm not surprised how he turned out considering how traumatic his past was..." She said quietly.

  
She then started to play around with her braclet along with feeling goosebumps on her arm that where forming form the coldness of the basement.

 

"The ape who hurt me was called Pope and he was a even bigger monster then Koba, considering how he brutality tortured not just humans but his own kind as well... He-he made me watch as he killed someone I loved and brutality killed a ape who tried to help me escape" she said as her voice nearly breaking.

 

 

"I'm sorry..." the he said sympathetically.

 

  
The man began to process all this new information.

 

"You said apes like in more then one, so there was another ape beside Pope that hurt you?"

 

"Yea one his cronies, he's the one who gave me these bite marks.... God he was such a sadist....when Pope wasn't the one toturing me he let him do what ever he wanted to me" she said while struggling to say the words.

 

"This other ape, what happened to him?"

 

"For awhile I didn't know....but after meeting Caesar again I eventually found out that he went back to the ape colony and was still there...the way I found out wasn't a pleasant experience ethier" she said monotonely with her eyes trailing off.

 

"Did you tell Caesar?"

 

"No....but he found out anyway....I never saw him so enraged..."

 

* * *

 

 

**Muir Park 3 years ago, The Ape Colony**

  
In the home of the royal family Caesar had been staring sternly at his eldest son for what it seem like a eternity making Blue Eyes avoid his gaze. The tension was so thick someone could cut it with a knife. Cornelia with Cornelius sleeping on her chest, sat next to Blue Eyes looking back and forth between her her eldest and her husband.

 

" _What were you thinking running off like that?"_ he signed aggressively.

 

  
Blue Eyes still avoided his gaze.

 

" _Not only did you worry your mother and half the village you also brought Iris to village._ "

 

The young ape remained silence and it only frustrated his father.

 

" _They already know she lives out here and most are not happy about, some of them wanted to attack her at her home but I order them not too, what do you think they will do now that she knows where the village is"_ he signed trying to get through to him.

 

Cornelia looked at Caesar a little worried about this revelation and it seemed he was able to get through his son because his gaze quickly met with his father's.

 

" _Do you realize-_

 

"Why...didn't....you...tell...me...about...her?" Blue Eyes spoke cutting him off.

 

Both of his parent looked at him surprised because they knew he didn't try to speak unless it was really serious.

 

" _Why didn't you tell me you have a sister? I didn't even about your human family until a month ago, why didn't you ever tell me?_ "he signed agitated, staring his father directly in the eyes.

 

Caesar's gaze soften a little and he huffed.

 

"I didn't know... she lived out here... until resently.....I haven't seen her... for 10 years"Caesar spoke instead of signing.

 

Caesar looked at Cornelia who had him encouraged to go on.

 

"The last time I saw her and my adoptive father....Is the day I led the apes to freedom...I did a lot of things that damaged my relationship with both of them....I couldn't bring myself to talk about it."

 

" _Can't blame him for being curious Caesar, she's part of your family that he never got to meet"_ Cornelia signed to her husband.

 

" _And I didn't tell her the village was father she already knew, she's known for 5 years now"_ he signed to them.

 

Caesar and Cornelia looked shocked at this.

 

_"I wanted to go home by myself but she insisted on walking back home with me to make sure I got back ok."_

 

Caesar eyes soften a little at this.

 

" _What was she like?_ " Cornelia asked who was also curious about her husband's sister.

 

" _Interesting, kind, but seemed sad..._ "he signed but his mind drifting off grimly at the last part causing his mother to stroke his arm.

 

"Son...does she...really live alone?"he asked quietly.

 

" _I didn't see anyone else living with her, other then the dog and a couple of animals...it seems like she's been alone for a long time..._ " he signed depressingly.

 

Cornelia hooted sadly at this and turned to see her husband deep in thought.

 

" _I asked her if I could see her again_ "

 

Caesar snapped out his thoughts at this comment.

 

"What did...she say?"he asked his son.

 

" _She said I would have to ask you."_

 

Caesar didn't no how to response to this and he didn't get a chance to because they all heard a loud grunt at the entrance of the hut, Caesar turned around to see it was Luca.

 

" _We are ready to leave Caesar"_ he signed to him.

 

"We will...talk about this later" he told his son as turned to follow Luca out of the hut.

  
Blue Eyes tried to protest but his mother stopped and he knew better to disobey his mother.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay chapter 6 I'm sorry it's so short I hope you enjoy :)


	7. Can't let go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris has a talk with someone unsuspected..

" What did you do after you walked Blue Eyes back to the Colony?"

 

"Before I walked Blue back to his home, my pigeon came back with a message from Malcom, he wanted to meet me in the city so I was heading over there" she said plainly.

 

"The abandoned part of the city?" He asked as he leaned forward.

 

"Yes..."

  
She became lost in thought remembering the bad that happened in city 10 years ago and and the good before that.

 

  
"He took the bodies there? Why?" he snapped her out her thoughts.

 

"Like I said before a group of soldiers had taken station in the human colony to monitor things...people were getting scared after everything that happened a month before, they would have used the dead bodies as an excuse to bring the rest in and would bring anarchy..."

 

"Like Alpha-Omega?"

 

She snapped her eyes to the man as he began to look over some more papers on the table.

 

"You were trained by them were you not? One of there best from what I've heard" he said he put the papers down to see her glare at him.

 

"It wasn't by choice....they kidnapped me and made me into child solider...." she practically hissed at him the man seemed unaffected by her reaction though.

 

"You were 14 at the time yes? Was it right after you father died?"

 

"Two weeks after my father died...it's easier to grab orphans and they found me wondering around....me and other childern most younger then the rest of us lived under horrid conditions and went through hell...I was there for 13 months..." she said quietly as she tighten her hands.

 

"You were looking for someone weren't you? When you where wondering."

 

"No....I was looking for a place to die....I had the Simian Flu..."

 

* * *

 

 

**Muir Park 3 years ago**

  
Iris walked through the forest trying to get to the city to meet Malcolm. She had not bathed or changed clothes in 2 days, she was covered in dirt along with her body and hair sticky from sweat, she felt like shit not only physically but mentally and emotionally as well it also didn't help that she didn't sleep well last night.

  
She pulled a string from her pocket and used it to tie hair back to get it out of her face. She rubbed her eyes and looked up to look at the tall trees with the sun glistling through them, she was memorized by them.

 

**Muir Park 15 years ago**

_Iris got out  of the car with her dad, her grandpa, her dads new friend Caroline, and Caesar. Caesar was excited he had never been outside before, he had been in the backyard a bunch of times but this was different._

  
_This was far away from home in wide open space surronded by trees, the young ape couldn't wait to climb and explore._

  
_"Caesar look how big this place is!" Iris said cheerfully, she was excited too._

  
_Caesar hooted joyfully, pratically jumping around._

  
_"Let's go!" she said getting ready to run off along with Caesar but they were both stopped and picked up by Will._

_"Daaaaddd!" Iris groaned._

_"We want to explore" Caesar signed as he pouted._

  
_"Not so fast, we've never been here before so I don't want you two to get lost, we also need wait for everyone" he said authoritatively._

_"Grandpa!" she groaned to  her gandfather thinking he would back them up since he was more easygoing then their dad._

_"Listen to your father sweatheart, he just wants to keep you two safe" he told them gently._

  
_Iris sighed in defeat, it was hard to argue with her grandfather._

  
_"Alright let's get ready to go" Caroline said as she laughed._

  
_They then started to walk in the woods Caesar looked around in amazement and Iris smiled at him, glad to see he was already  having a good time. Iris could see Coraline smiling warmly at Caesar and when she noticed Iris staring at her she turned her head to do the same to her causing the 8 year old give the woman a small shy smile._

  
_She then brought her attention back to her brother which made her remember he was wearing a leash._

_"Dad does he really have to wear that? He doesn't need it" Iris asked Will with concern._

  
_"It just for safety" he replied trying to reassure her._

_It didn't make her feel better though._

  
_By the time they made it to bridge they had stopped walking. Her and Caesar asked Will hopefully if it mean't they could go exploring now._

  
_"Don't leave my sight you two" he said as he took off the leash but Caesar didn't run off when he did which surprised Iris and Will instead he just stood there offering his hand flat to Will._

  
_"I don't believe it! He's asking you for permission!" Coraline said with excitement and shock._

  
_Iris didn't know what to make of this._

  
_"Swipe your hand across his" Coraline told Will._

_As soon as Will did this Caesar took off running dragging Iris by the hand with him. Will smiled as he watched them go.  
_

  
_"Ok!ok!ok!" she laughed._

  
_He let go of her hand when he saw a tree and climbed up it while Iris watch as he disppeared between the branches. Then something caught her eye, a rocky ledge that was above her she then went over to climb up it. It only took her a couple minutes to get to the edge of the ledge when she did she pulled herself up, stood up and looked at the view._

  
_She could see most of the whole park along with Caesar on top of one the trees.  He was looking around just like she was but had a better view because the tree was taller. When he saw her he smiled big and waved at her, she did the same._

  
**End of flashback**

  
Iris brought her head to the ground not wanting to look up anymore.

  
"Those where happier times, when the family was together" a voice causing her to look in the direction it was coming from to see the person being shadowed.

 

"Both you were so young then, oblivious to  evil of the world around you" the person speaking was now visable, it was her father Will.

  
"More like stupid and naive..." said she said queitly.

  
He looked at her sadly.

  
"I tried to shield that evil from both of you but I failed at that and both of you suffered because of it"He said softly.

  
" You did your best dad..."she said while trying not to choke up.

 

"Why are you pushing him away sweetheart?...."

  
She lowered her eyes away from her father.

  
He's the one that wants me gone dad...." she said while tears fell down her checks.

 

" You always push away those who try to get close to like Malcom, Ellie, Alex, and Zane...are you going to do it to Caesar's son too?..."

  
"I don't know...." she whispered.

  
"What are afaird of Iris?....Are you afaird of losing more people you care about....like how you lost me...."He said grimly while his voice becoming somewhat distorted this caused her look back up at her _father_.

  
What she saw horrified her, Will was pale and covered in blood. She backed up in terror until her back hit something or more like someone. Her reflects just acted and spun around to punch who ever was behind her only for her wrist to be caught along with the other one. She then saw the very concerned eyes of Maurice.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I did another chap fast lol yea Iris has some demons that still haunt her. I'm sorry if I write bad I hope you guys like my story anyways :D


	8. Manifestation of Grief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maurice calms down Iris

The man stared at her, not sure how to comprehend the events she just told him.

 

"Iris...what you saw...is impossible...your father-

  
"Dead yea I know but yet I kept seeing him even after he died...like he was haunting me..." she cut him off curtly as she trailed off in her thoughts.

 

"You were hallucinating him weren't you? Because of your grief, you blamed yourself for his death.

 

She closed her eyes and nodded in confirmation as tears steamed down her face.

 

"You said _was_ seeing him does that mean your not seeing him anymore?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

She nodded again.

 

"When did you stop seeing him?"

 

"6 months after we found the bodies..."

 

"And why did you stop seeing him?"

 

"Because I was able to do something I thought I would never be able to do....I forgave myself..." she said hoarsely.

 

* * *

 

 

** Muir Park 3 years ago **

  
Iris was breathing heavily while trembling, her eyes looked at the orangutan full of terror not in fear of him but of what she just saw. Maurice hooted softly trying to calm her down while still holding both of her wrists gently but firmly in his hands. Her breaths soon became slower and the trembling had stopped causing him to let go of her but he could see there was still a little hint of fear in her eyes.

 

" _What happened? Who were you talking to?"_ he signed to with concern.

 

Iris quickly looked to direction of what spooked her to see it was now gone.

 

"Nothing....No one I'm fine..." she said under her breath as she quickly looked back to him.

 

Maurice could clearly tell it wasn't nothing but he didn't want to push her, not when he just got her to calm down.

 

"Wait a minute? Why are you here? Were you following me?" she asked suspiciously as she stared hard at him.

 

" _Caesar wanted me to keep a eye on you as you got back home."_

 

Iris crossed her arms becoming annoyed.

 

" _He's just worried..._ "he signed with tender eyes, trying get her to understand his king's reason.

 

She rolled her eyes and scoffed.

 

"I know this might be hard for his bullheaded brain to understand but just because I'm female doesn't mean I'm weak and helpless" she said agitated.

 

She then turned around to continue on her way but was stopped by the orangutan who grabbed her arm causing her to turn around to look at him.

 

" _He doesn't think that, the woods not safe right now and apes getting nervous about you."_

 

"I know how to defend myself Maurice....now could you please let go of me...I have something I have to do" she said as she pulled her arm out of his grip.

 

 

" _Where are you going?_ " He signed curiously.

 

"I'm going back home to pick up my dog then I'm heading towards the abandoned part of the city."

 

Maurice's eyes widen a little in surprise because that's were Caesar was heading with Rocket and Luca.

 

" _Why?"_

  
  
"I'm meeting someone there, I don't have time this" she said in frustration as she spun around and took off with Maurice following after her which made her turn around to face him slowly, looking clearly peeved.

 

"Your just going to keep following me arn't you...." she said quietly.

 

He gave a look that confirmed her suspiousions.

  
She groaned loudly and turned back around to start walking again not bothering with the ape that was following her, she could out run him and lose him but was too tired emotional, physically, and mental along with feeling like crap to deal with it. As a way to block out everything she started to sing a familiar song to her, Mutiny by Think up Anger.

 

Maurice paid attentivly to the song she was singing.

 

While the song went longer she stopped singing because they had arrived back to her home.

  
"Please don't growl at my dog..." she said to Maurice quietly.

  
He scoffed at this.

  
She walking up to her door with him behind her and opened it. Bruce who was sleeping on the floor quickly ran over to Iris once he heard her come through the door.

  
"Hey buddy do you want to come with me to do a errand" she said softly to him.

  
He barked in agreement which made her smile. She then went over to her table pick up a knife she had left there and put it in her pocket. She then noticed that Maurice was looking at her book shelf with interest.

  
"Do you like to read?" she asked as she walked over to him.

  
He grunted in confirmation.

  
_"I teach the childern in the Colony but we don't have books."_

  
Iris could understand that due not many apes were keen on the idea of humans things in the colony.

  
" _Where did you get all of them?"_ He signed curiously.

  
"Book stores and libraries....you would be surprised of how many of them are laying around."

  
Well it wasn't really much of a surprise really, humans were more busy looking for means of survival then to read for the last 10 years. Iris started look around the book shelf until she found what she was looking for which was To Kill a Mocking Bird she then handed to Maurice.

  
Maurice looked at the book then back at her not sure how to react.

  
"Keep it I've read it multiple times....you will probably be intrigued by it" she said as she walked out the door with Bruce.

  
Maurice followed her, watching her closely, while he was not yet intrigued by the book he was becoming intrigued by her.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay another chapter I'm on a roll :D let me know what you think. I heard the song Munity in one of the Wftopa trailers and I thought it really suited it well :) check it out
> 
> https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5rnqXs0m0QA


	9. Shamed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris deals with past and new foes.......

"I'm curious about something Iris? Before you met Malcolm and his son and moved into the colony, you lived in the abonanded part city for about a year after the incidents with Alpha-Omega and from what just learned Pope....isn't that right?" he asked her.

  
She just stared at him blankly.

  
"And even though the colony kicked you out you still stayed in San Francisco....the place where most of your trauma and pain happened... why?" he asked curiously.

  
Iris started to feel her braclet then slowly trailing up her hand to feel the scars on her arm.

  
"Because it was my home....despite eveything that happened to me...and back then I had no where else to go..."

 

* * *

 

  
**The Abandoned City 3 years ago**

 

Iris was walking around the city looking for the building that she was suspose to meet Malco lm in, Maurice left awhile after they got in the city stating he had to do something as well. While Iris was a little curious she didn't brother with it, happy not to have a shadow looming over her anymore.

  
Her destinRoon had brought her to a old decaying office building. She didn't really like the city because of a lot bad memories, _very_ bad memories. She didn't want to stay here any longer then she should have to so she went inside the building. The building didn't look any better in the inside, the place was in a state of disarray but this didn't surprise her after everything that happened in the last 10 years.

 

Malcolm walking into the room snapped her out of memory lane. She could tell he was still a little upset about her bailing on him the the other day. Bruce who had standing patiently by her side the whole time looked back and forth between her and him, he started to wine at the tension causing Iris to pet the shepard to reassure him.

 

"Hey...I'm sorry about yesterday..." She said she said hoarsely.

 

"We can talk about that later, let's go to the back room the bodies are there" he said he gestured to the back room.

 

"Ok what did you find out?" she asked as she walked right past him along with Bruce.

 

"Iris there's something I need to tell you before you go in there!" he hollered while trying to catch up to her.

  
But by the time she opened the door to the room she found out what he was trying warn her about. Ellie who was comparing notes with what seemed like another doctor turned her head to Iris when she entered the room, she looked at her with worry how her reaction was going to be and she had the right to be worried. While she was happy to see Ellie and didn't really care about the other doctor, she wasn't really happy to see the two other people there. Both of them were men, the one guy who was staring hard at her was maybe close to Malcolm's age, his head was shaved with lightly tanned skin, and he wore brown cargo pants and jacket. His eyes showed her he had years of experience and seen a lot, everything about this man screamed military. She turned her head to the other man who was sitting in a chair against the wall, this man she knew quiet well and she definitely didn't like him, she hadn't seen him since they were teenagers. The man waved lazely at her while giving her a smug smile, she told Bruce to sit and not to move.

 

"Malcolm what's this soldier doing here?...Or better yet what's this asshole doing here?!" she yelled while glaring.

 

"Your not happy to see me Iris, I'm hurt"he said sarcastically while gesturing a hand over his heart.

 

"Why would I be fucking happy to see a lazy, sexist, obnoxious, son of a bitch like you Zack..." she practically growled at him.

  
Zack looked around a little bit older then Iris, he was wearing a black shirt, a grey wind breaker jacket, blue worn jeans with brown hiking boots. He had short brown hair, grayish blue eyes, and cleary hadn't shaved in a couple days.

 

"Hahaha!...Wow I've missed your nick names for me" he said chuckling.

 

She just continued to glare at him and he continued to smile smugly at her.

 

"Well you would know who is a son of a bitch since your the queen bitch yourself"he said matter afactly.

 

"Ok knock it off you two your not childern anymore" Malcolm said to the two of them as grabbed Iris's shoulder and pushed her back lightly, he then bent his head down to to talk in her ear.

 

"James ratted out the bodies to some people and the soldiers stationed in the colony found out...." he whispered making her close her eyes in anger.

 

"That fucking moron....remind me to kill James...how many are here?" she hissed under her breath.

 

"Just him...it was ethier let him come to observe and decide what action needs to be done or they would call in the rest of them to handle the situation....I brought a colony guard with me as back up...along with this...just in case " he said as he gestured to the pistol in his belt.

 

"Just how many soldiers are-

 

She cut herself off when something caught her eye out of the huge window but quickly turned her head to Malcolm's ear.

 

"Looks like you forgot to tell me who else would be here Malcolm..." she whispered to him, his eyes trailed to see what she was looking at when he saw what she was refuring too he turned his gaze back to her.

 

"Like you said...let's talk later" She said quietly.

  
He nodded in aggreement.

 

She then had a realization at something he just said.

  
"Wait, when you said colony guard you don't mean Zack do you?" she asked in shock as she turned her head to look at Zack who just continued to smile at her smugly.

 

"He became a guard a couple months after you were kicked out."

 

She looked between him and Malcolm in disbelief.

  
"How did a fucking delinquent like him-

 

"I must say Malcolm when you said you knew some one with military training I didn't suspect someone who was so _outspoken_...." The soldier said finally cutting in his opinion after being silent the whole time.

 

Iris could feel him judging her causing her to glare at him.

 

"Iris this Lieutenant Liam Sykes one of the few soldiers left from the original U.S. Army, Lieutenant this is Iris Rodman."

 

The soldier's face fell to shock at this this information.

 

"Rodman? As in William Rodman? Your related to him?" he asked seriously.

  
The whole room became tense.

  
"I'm his daughter...." she said plainly.

  
The soldier then turned his gaze from her to Malcolm, clearly not happy.

 

"Your letting the daughter of the genocider help us with this" he said dangerously low to Malcolm.

 

  
"Iris isn't her father and she has training-

 

"I've heard all about how she used that training in the colony, she's kinda popular over there, I also heard she bashed a kid's skull so bad that he got a concussion" he said basically grilling Malcolm.

 

"If you knew the whole story then you would know she did that to defend herself against the boy along with his two friends if my might add who were assaulting her" they turned there heads to the one who spoke this to see it was Ellie who was obviously getting upset by the Lieutenant's comments, Iris also noticed Zack looking down at the ground depressingly with his face full of guilt at Ellie's comment which kind of surprised Iris, but she didn't have time to think about it because there was something she wanted to confirm about this soldier and when she remembered Malcolm's pistol she realized how she could do it.

 

The Lieutenant then turned his head back to glare at her.

 

"They also told me she tried to get others to sympathize with those-

  
He was quickly cut off when She snatched the pistol from Malcolm's belt and aimed at him.

 

"IRIS WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Malcolm yelled, suprised my the action she just pulled.

  
"Iris give the gun back to Malcolm please!" Ellie pleading to her, the other doctor beside her who was a guy obviously looked freaked out.

 

  
Zack just watched Iris attentively, waiting to see what her reason was.

 

Bruce could feel her distress and started to growl at Sykes.

  
"I'M NOT GETTING RID OF THE GUN UNTIL I SEE THE BACK THIS BASTARD'S NECK" she screamed while staring Sykes inraged.

  
The Lieutenant showed no emotion on his face but just looked at her.

  
"Iris why do-

  
"Alpha-Omega have brands in the back of their neck as proof they one of the group!" she yelled cutting Malcolm off.

 

Malcolm looked at Sykes then back to her unsure.

  
"Are you saying he's-

  
"I won't know for sure unless I check his neck, did you forget what those guys tried to do to Alex...." said she lowly this time but was still obviously inraged.

 

He closed his eyes her comment, making him remember what happened 5 years ago, it wasn't pleasant. He back away from her and she walked over to Skyes, still pointing the gun while he stared at her blankly. She grabbed his shoulder and roughly turned him around to look at the back of his neck to see nothing this made her a little relieved, she also showed Malcolm and he was relieved too but she still had this shakey feeling something wasn't  right about him.

 

"Is that enough proof for you Ms. Roadman..." he asked her monotonely.

 

"For now..." she said as she backed up away from him and gave Malcolm back his gun.

 

"If all of you are done arguing over there I would like to tell you what we found" Ellie said straight to the point.

 

Sykes walked over to the table while keeping a eye on Iris, when he was close to Bruce the shepard snapped his jaws and the man quickly backed away before he could do anything.

 

"Don't take it personally...he doesn't like assholes" she said lowly as she walked past him along with Malcom up the table that had one the bodies, he glared at her  in response.

 

"Well you were right Iris they where all killed ethier by a sharp rock or a big piece of glass, those are my best guesses since we don't have the weapon, not to mention the bodies where moved so we don't know where they were killed..."

 

"They were found in the forest though right? and they were killed savagely it has to be the apes" Sykes said.

 

Iris scoffed at this.

 

"You think just because they were found in the woods and slashed up that it was the apes...your an idiot.."

  
He turned his head to look at her.

  
"They could have been in the city for we know and dumped into the woods to make seem like it was like the apes...we don't know yet."

 

"And the way they were killed?"

 

"You should know there's sick people out there Lieutenant....I've met a couple myself both ape and human...there's good apes and there's bad apes just like there's good humans and bads humans...we are not really that much different from each other....even our DNA 94% compatiable " she said softly.

 

He just continued to state at her.

 

"I wonder why you sympathize with these animals so much Ms. Rodman since there's proof of how much they brutalized on your body" He said as he roughly grabbed her arm pulling her towards him, his action catching her off guard , He then grabbed by her neck with his other hand to hold her in place.

  
Everybody reacted, the hand that wasn't holding her neck was now ripping off her jacket and her shirt showing her half naked body to everyone, Malcolm aimed his gun but his grip loosened and his face turned distraut when he saw the naked part of her upper body, Ellie covered her mouth in horror, Zack didn't know how to react , and Bruce was barking and growling ready to pounce but Malcolm grabbed  him by the scruff of his neck keeping him from doing so, though he really wanted to go of him and let Bruce have his way. They could see all the bite marks on her upper body.

 

She just glared at Sykes as he held her by the throat.

 

"You thought by covering yourself with your jacket that no one would notice, if you hadn't pulled that gun and got closer to me I probably wouldn't have...." He told her queitly.

  
She grunted in frustration while still glaring at him.

 

"While at first glance these marks look like they were done by a some kind of animal but when you look at them closer you can tell they are also similiar to a human so I'll ask you again Ms. Rodman....how can you still defend these beasts after one of them used you as a chew toy...." He said while staring into her eyes.

 

"I would recommend that you let go of Iris and slowly back away from her..."Zack warned The Lieutenant dangerously low while pointing a gun at his head, Iris was surprised he was trying to defend her.

 

"Son...what your doing right now isn't wise..." he warned Zack while never turning his head.

 

"Neither is what I'm about to do..." Iris said softy, now having her knife positioned at his groin ready to plunge it in.

 

He looked at the knife then back at her, surprised that she was able to pull it out with our him noticing, the whole room became tense.

 

"Like he said...get your fucking hands off me...or your going to bleed out from your balls...." she threatened as she lightly pressed the tip to touch his pants.

 

Sykes slowly let go of her and backs away this makes Zack lower his gun. Ellie walked over to Iris right after he did, she helped her put her jacket back on then gently cradled her face in one of her hands, looking at her with worried eyes.

 

"You ok?" she asked her softly.

 

Iris nodded as she put her knife back into her pants.

 

"Iris it's ok for you go home now..." Malcolm said queitly while leting go of Bruce.

 

Not having to tell her twice she turned around to head outside while telling Bruce to follow her. But before she even made it out the room she saw Malcolm go over to Sykes and punched him right in the middle of his face making him stumble a little, Zack smirked a little at this.

 

"If you ever touch her like that again...I swear I won't hesitate to shoot you next time or let Bruce tare out your throat" he threatened him, he then turned around to go outside with Iris following behind him, Skyes glared at them as he watched them go.

 

Once they got outside the building they walked aways until Iris stopped and turned around to look at him.

 

"You wanted to talk right?...let's talk" she said straight to the point.

 

"I do Iris but I can understand if you not feeling up to it right now...." he said sympathetically, knowing she had been through enough today.

 

"Let's just get over with it I don't want to bugged about this later....." she said as she brought a hand up to her head to rub her temple to help ease the headache she has.

 

He sighed.

 

"Why did you run off like that yesterday?...I know you have anxiety when your around to many people but there was only those two plus Alex and I...."

  
"That wasn't it..."

  
"Then what was it the apes?...was it Caesar?..."

 

She turned her eyes away from him while still rubbing her temple, confirming that it was.

 

"How do you know him Iris? What did he-

 

"He's my brother Malcolm...." she cut him off.

 

Malcolm was shocked at this.

 

"You mean the one who you hadn't seen since you where a kid?...." he asked.

 

"Yea that one..." she said queitly.

 

"Iris why didn't you ever tell me..."

 

"There was never much to tell....we haven't seen each other 10 years and we both lived different lives in all those years...we both changed...." she depressingly.

 

Bruce rubbed up against her sensing she was sad, making her pet him.

 

"I'm tired, dirty, and have huge headache so I'm just want to go back home myself now....thank you...for sticking up for me" she said as she turned to walk away.

 

Malcolm watched her sadly.

 

"Also tell them to hide better next time...they got lucky that I noticed them not that bastard...next time they wiki probably not be so lucky...." she said as walk off back to the woods.

 

Malcolm watched her leave then looked on top of a building, locking eyes with Caesar and the apes who were trying to be unnoticed, Caesar's gaze then switched to Iris, watching as she left.

 

* * *

 

 

**Muir Park**

  
Iris was in the slow currant part of the river, washing off all the dirt and sweat she needed to get rid of, the water was cold but she didn't care it felt better then how she been feeling lately and she liked to swim anyways. She closed her eyes while running her hands through her long hair then down her face and neck until she stopped at the bite mark on her neck. She opened her eyes with her face blank, she started to feel around the other bite marks on her body.

 

Sykes words and the way he shame her had started to come back her, making her relive something that she desperately wanted to forget.

  
She hugged herself as she began to sob while lowering herself into the water until she was completely under water she then screamed.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I wrote a lot, it took a lot out of me I'm tired now lol I hope you guys like the chapter thell me what you think I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can :)


	10. Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris has a nightmare of the past...

"The lieutenant should have never touched  you like that.....it was wrong of him to do...."the man said sympathetically.

 

She avoided eye contact with the man, while Iris's face remained voided of all emotion her hands didn't as they were held together.

  
"It's...not the first...time someone has touched me inappropriately..." she said nonchalantly as she brought her hand up to the scar on her collar bone.

  
The man noticed this action.

  
"The ape that gave you those scars...he he not only tortured you...he sexually abused you didn't he?..." he asked grimly.

  
She closed her eyes with a lone tear falling down Her check and nodded.

 

"In this world we live in now...it's more common and easier for men to victimize women and young girls or get them to do sexual favors in exchange for things...a man once even tried to take avantage of me...but I never thought a ape would or even want to touch a human female like _that_...."She said as her voice became shakey along with her hands.

 

"Did?...Did he rape you Iris?....he asked afaird of the answer.

  
She shook her head.

  
"No...he only got to touching and biting me....he was interrupted by Pope....Pope despised humans, he thought we should never coxiest with each other, that humans should be slaves and if he found out one of his followers was trying to rape one...Pope would have killed him on the spot..." She said hoarsely.

 

"Pope's follower.....what was his name?"

 

"Onyx..." she relpelied weakly.

 

"And when did this happen?..." he asked.

 

"A couple months before I joined the colony with Malcolm and Alex...about 8 years ago..."she said as she wiped her face with her hand.

  
They sat in silence for a couple of seconds.

  
" Your ordeal was very traumatic and it could have been a been much worse...I could only say it was miracle that it didn't progress further..."he said breaking the silence.

 

"I just got lucky..not lucky enough to avoid getting these scars but lucky enough not to get raped...it's kind of ironic really....and while I wasn't raped then I was raped 5 years later...."

  
The man's eyes widen at this.

 

* * *

 

 

**Muir Park 3 years ago**

 

  
She screamed underwater until she couldn't scream anymore then bringing herself back up for air. She ran her hands through her hair then slowly brought them down her face feeling her tears mixing with the water.

 

She then swam over to a rock that was in the water and sat on it. She started to look at her body to examine the proof of how much she had been brutalized over the years. She had the bite marks on her upper body, a huge burn mark on her left arm, whip marks, a slash mark on her neck that was covered by her hair, lacerations on different parts of her body, scars on her hands, and the star shaped scar on her right arm she got long before she got all the other scars, before she ended up alone.

  
Deciding she had been in the water long enough she swam back to the shore where Bruce was resting, he was swimming with her before but he eventually got tried and went back to shore. She got to the shore and went over to a big rock that was between the water and the shore to climb on top of it, She laid herself on top made herself comfortable on it as the sun dried her. She so comfortable that she slowly started to dift off to sleep and oh boy did she need it, Iris had really bad insomnia and was miracle if she got any sleep at all.

 

 

  
**Nightmare**

  
_Iris laid down in the corner of the cage shivering from the cold and from the pain that was inflicted on her resently, She tried her best to stay warm but the only things that were keeping her remotely warm were her torn up sweat jacket and moss that grew inside of the cage and they were obviously not working not well, nights had always been very cold in San Francisco._

  
_Her attention was then brought to the sound of someone opening the cage she looked to see who it was and was surprised to see it was Onyx holding a flashlight. She was surprised to see him since she knew apes couldn't see in the dark and that's why they didn't like to go out at night. Onyx fur was just like as his name a dark black and his eyes were green with golden specks that made them glow somewhat, he smiled at her but it just creeped her out, he basically looked like a serial killer and he stared at her like she was his victim._

  
_"Why are you here Oynx?....Did Pope send you?" she asked as she sat up._

  
_He walked over and sat down close to her, way too close._

_"He doesn't know your here?....does he?" She realized horrifically._

_"No....he doesn't" he replied raspy._

_He kept staring at her and she didn't like it one bit._

_"I always found you humans fascinating, you fear what's different and you try use and dominate those beneath you" he signed._

  
_She was not sure where he was going with this._

_"We're not all like that.....there's good humans and there's bad humans though you and Pope have shown your no better then the humans that abused you and the proof is on my body" she said as pulled up her jackets sleeve and then her shirt to show him the lacerations on her arm and stomach, but she then quickly pulled them both back down when he started looking at them in a way that disgusted her._

_" I find...you interesting...even when...Pope and I...hurt you...you never...beg...you never...scream...you...fight us...we can't break...you" he spoke raspy to her while running his hand through her hair, she just stared at him._

_"You know I'm... not from here...I'm from._  
_...place that...humans call...Malaysia....and before...that the jungle..." he said as his hand then started to run down her neck._

_Iris started to become uncomfortable._

_"Bad humans...kill and eat...my mother...infornt of...me...and then...bad humans..gave me...to other...bad humans...at place...called brothel...in Malaysia...humans did...horrible things...to me...there..."he said with his hand now stoking her neck and collar bone._

  
_Iris just stared at him horrified at his story, not noticing his inappropriate touching for the moment._

_"Brothel eventually...got tried...of me...and gave...me to human...here....human hurt...me too...so sent...to shelter....but then...was freed" he said smiling at the last part._

  
_"I'm so sorry for everything that has been done to you..."she said sympathetically, even though he hurt her she really did mean it._

  
_He smirked darkly at her as he brought his other hand to rest on her lower thigh._

_"You...say sorry...even though...I hurt...you..."_

_"I mean it...it wasn't right what they did to you..." she said softly, now noticing his hand running up close to her hip._

_She wanted to ask him about someone she had been worried about the whole time she had been held here but was afaird what his response would be or if he would tell her at all._

_"Is Moon alright?...."_

_Her question made him stop what he was doing to look her straight in the eyes._

_"When I...saw him...he was...still breathing...but don't...know what...Pope will do..." he smiled sadistically._

_She closed her eyes in anguish with tears, knowing Moon was only in pain because he took the rest of her punishment._

_"But...you should..be worried...about what...why I...here...and what...I want...from you...." he said as he put his hand on her tear stained check and slowly tracing his fingers down to her lips._

  
_Her eyes widen at this._

  
_"What could you possibly want from me?...."she asked quietly, afaird of his answer._

_He smiled sadistically as he brought the hand that was touching her lips to her neck and gripped it tightly, she tried to tare his hand away with little affect,he then brought his face closer to hers._

_"I want...to break...you.." he told her softly before slamming her on the ground, ripped t her shirt, and sinked his jaws into where her collar bone was. Iris scream in pain and horror while desperately trying to fight off him but it proved invain as he began tare at the rest of her clothing, she continued to struggle as he aggressively touched, groped, and bit her one his hands even trying to find her entrance._

  
**End of Nightmare**

  
Iris bolted awake while screaming, she quickly took in her surrondings to see it was just a dream and she was at the river. She ran her hand through hair while taking deep breaths to calm herself down,  these nightmares were the reason she barely slept. Bruce lifted his head at sound, he whined in concern.

 

She jumped off the rock and went over to the tree that her pants and jacket were hanging from with her boots by it, she didn't have her shirt anymore because it got destroyed _earlier that day_ and she swam in her underwear so didn't have to worry about that ethier.

 

"Bruce we're going home" she told him as she started to put her pants on, Bruce got up and stretched then waited for Iris to get done. She didn't get a chance to zip up her jacket when she noticed someone was watching her, making her stop what she was doing all together.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter for you guys I hope you like it, it hasn't been Iris's day hasn't it.


	11. To Be Shown Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caesar learns a few things about Iris...

"How did you feel when you realized Caesar and some of his apes were in the other building next to you? watching everything....including the way the lieutenant treated you."

She remained quite for a bit while avoiding eye contact with him.

"He didn't like that I stood up to him....that I challenged his authority....so he thought he would teach a me lesson by degrading me infront of everyine there...inculding infornt of my brother even though he didn't know he was there...." She said while playing with her bracelet.

She then brought her eyes back to him.

"I wouldn't have cared if he had beated or insulted me but for him to do that....stripping me half naked and showing everyone my scars...I never wanted anyone espeacily Caesar to ever see them" she said while trying not to choke up.

 

* * *

 

**The Abandoned City 3 years, Caesar's POV**

 

Caesar was in the old office building next to the one the humans where using to examine the bodies, he had brought the apes he trusted the most Rocket, Luca and Maurice though the orangutan met up with them later on due to the ape king asking him to make his sister got home alright but found out to his frustration that Iris was involed with the meeting of the humans. Malcolm told them it was best for them to stay out of sight until the soldier was gone then they could tell their findings to him and his apes, Caesar agreed with him knowing the soldier would never cooperate with them. They had been watching intensely for a while but then the sound of Malcolm's yelling had given them quite a shock along with them seeing him chasing after Iris

"Iris there's something I need to tell you before you go in there!" he hollered while trying to catch up to her.

They saw her expression turned to confusion then to anger at the two men it was obvious to them she had no idea they would be here.

Malcolm what's this soldier doing here?...Or better yet what's this asshole doing here?!" she yelled while glaring.

Caesar was curious how she knew the young man and why she seemed to hate him.

Your not happy to see me Iris, I'm hurt"he said sarcastically while gesturing a hand over his heart.

"Why would I be fucking happy to see a lazy, sexist, obnoxious, son of a bitch like you Zack..." she practically growled at him.

" _Not afaird to speak her mind is she?"_ Luca signed.

" Iris...has always been...a bold...and honest female....though those things...usually get...her into...trouble" Caesar said quietly.

Maurice could agree with him after seeing  her actions from the last 2 days and spending a little bit of time with her, he could also tell his friend was worried about her for this same reason.

" _If he's smart he should shut his mouth and not upset her more"_ Rocket signed remebering her viciousness from the woods.

Hahaha!...Wow I've missed your nick names for me" he said chuckling.

She just continued to glare at him and he continued to smile smugly at her.

"Well you would know who is a son of a bitch since your the queen bitch yourself"he said matter afactly.

Caesar watched the humans arguing closely, he noticed that while Iris was antagonistic to him, Zack seemed to feel something else for Iris.

 _"Those two sort of remind me of how you and Cornelia first acted towards each other when you were young"_ Maurice signed to his friend smiling a little.

Caesar looked at his friend a little then turning back to the scene, it was true him and Cornelia didn't really get along when they first met mostly because he was a young, arrogant, stubborn, controling ape back then but they eventually became closer, he smiled a little at the memory.

" _The male is right about her having a temper"_ Luca signed.

Ok knock it off you two your not childern anymore" Malcolm said to the two of them as grabbed Iris's shoulder and pushed her back lightly, he then bent his head down to to talk in her ear.

Caesar was glad Malcolm broke it up before it got any worse,  him and Iris began talking closely with each other but he couldn't hear what they were saying due them being quiet. Just then he noticed Iris staring right at them, he was surprised she was able to spot them just like she was surprised they were there. She then just gestured to Malcolm to their direction as well making him look then quickly turning away.

" _She's very perceptive isn't she"_ Maurice signed.

I must say Malcolm when you said you knew some one with military training I didn't suspect someone who was so outspoken..." The soldier said finally cutting in his opinion after being silent the whole time.

Caesar was a little surprised by what the solidier said, what did he mean Iris has military training , Maurice looked at Caeser wondering the same thing.

"Rodman? As in William Rodman? Your related to him?" he asked seriously.

Caesar knew by learning her name this wasn't going to turn out well, It made Maurice worry too.

"I'm his daughter..." she said plainly.

The soldier was clearly not happy by this news.

"Your letting the daughter of the genocider help us with this" he said dangerously low to Malcolm.

Caesar was both angry and sad at what soldier called  his adoptive father because he knew he was a loving and kind man that never wanted to hurt anyone, though he also knew what he created caused a lot of death and suffering even though he was doing it for a good cause.

His friends looked at him in concern, because they knew how much he loved his adoptive father and they knew it hurt him to hear someone talk bad about him. Caesar looked at Iris, while she didn't show it he could tell that what the soldier said about their father hurt her too.

Malcolm tried to defend Iris but was quickly cut off.

"I've heard all about how she used that training in the colony, she's kinda popular over there, I also heard she bashed a kid's skull so bad that he got a concussion" he said basically grilling Malcolm.

The apes looked at Caesar at this revelation a little surprised a woman could do that much damage, the orangutan and the ape king already knew this so it didn't come as a shock to them.

"If you knew the whole story then you would know she did that to defend herself against the boy along with his two friends if my might add who were assaulting her" they turned there heads to the one who spoke this to see it was Ellie who was obviously getting upset by the Lieutenant's comments.

This is why Caesar and the apes that knew her well liked Ellie, because of her kindness and for sticking up for others.

What Caesar saw next shocked and his council, Iris aiming a gun at the soldier, it was clear the apes weren't the only ones surprised by her action.

"IRIS WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Malcolm yelled, suprised my the action she just pulled.

"Iris give the gun back to Malcolm please!" Ellie pleading to her, the other doctor beside her who was a guy obviously looked freaked out.

Zack just watched Iris attentively, waiting to see what her reason was.

"I'M NOT GETTING RID OF THE GUN UNTIL I SEE THE BACK OF THIS BASTARD'S NECK" she screamed while staring at Sykes inraged.

Caesar never seen Iris so angry, he and the others thought she might actually shoot him.

"Alpha-Omega have brands in the back of their necks as proof they are one of the group!" she yelled.

Malcolm looked at Sykes then back to her unsure.

"Are you saying he's-

"I won't know for sure unless I check his neck, did you forget what those guys tried to do to Alex..." said she lowly this time but was still obviously inraged.

The ape king and his companions remembered Alpha-Omega very well, they tried to hunt them down and also caused the fire in Muir Park 9 years ago. Caesar was curious how Iris knew them and how Malcolm's  son was involved, he could tell the others wanted to know as well espeacily Luca and Maurice.

They then watched as she went over to the man to inspect him, still aiming the gun though. When she found no mark on his neck she lowered the gun, backed away, and gave the gun back to Malcolm  but even though she didn't find the mark it clearly didn't make her less suspicious  of him and frankly Caesar was suspicious of him too, Ellie then called them over to talk about the bodies.

They noticed the dog tried to bite the soldier as he walked by.

"Don't take it personally...he doesn't like assholes" she said lowly as she walked past him along with Malcom up the table that had one of the bodies, he glared at her in response.

The apes hooted a little in laughter at her comment, even Caesar cracked a small smile, he didn't like dogs but he was beginning to like this dog a little.

The Soldier accused the apes  of killing the four people and Iris basically insulted him for thinking that, it humored the apes just how much she was insulting the soldier.

"They could have been in the city for we know and dumped into the woods to make seem like it was like the apes...we don't know yet."

"And the way they were killed?"

"You should know there's sick people out there Lieutenant...I've met a couple myself both ape and human...there's good apes and there's bad apes just like there's good humans and bads humans...we are not really that much different from each other...even our DNA 94% compatiable " she said softly.

Caesar remembered when he said that to Blues Eyes a month ago, when he eventually realized the truth out the hard way, but what caught his attention the most is when she said she's met bad apes.

" _What does she mean she's met bad apes?_ "Maurice he signed to Caesar concerned, he didn't know ethier though he was afaird to think what kind of encounter she might of had.

"I wonder why you sympathize with these animals so much Ms. Rodman since there's proof of how much they brutalized on your body" He said as he roughly grabbed her arm pulling her towards him, his action catching her off guard , He then grabbed by her neck with his other hand to hold her in place.

Everyone was shocked inculding the apes Caesar was angry, he gripped the edge of the window tightly and growled underneath his breath, he became furious when the soldier's other hand that wasn't holding her neck was now ripping off her jacket and her shirt showing her half naked body to everyone, Caesar wanted to yell out but a hand on his shoulder held him back, he turned his head to see it was Maurice.

 _"If you make yourself known the situation could become worse and he might hurt her"_ he signed grimly to his friend, Caesar  clearly could see his campanions were just as disgusted and angry by the by the soldier's action.

" _Caesar_..."Rocket signed while pointing back to the direction of the window, his eyes filled with shock.

Caesar didn't want to look at his sister's body like this but the look on Rocket's face said he needed to, he slowly turned around and what he saw have him gave  
sorrow.

The top of her body was covered in bites marks done by a ape.

"You thought by covering yourself with your jacket that no one would notice, if you hadn't pulled that gun and got closer to me I probably wouldn't have..." He told her queitly.

She grunted in frustration while still glaring at him.

"While at first glance these marks look like they were done by a some kind of animal but when you look at them closer you can tell they are also similiar to a human so I'll ask you again Ms. Rodman...how can you still defend these beasts after one of them used you as a chew toy..." He said while staring into her eyes.

Caesar's  heart filled with anguish at this comment,to know one his own kind tried to hurt his family again, Maurice was feeling the same he was but held it back so he could try to put his friend at ease.

"I would recommend that you let go of Iris and slowly back away from her..."Zack warned The Lieutenant dangerously low while pointing a gun at his head, while Iris was surprised he was trying to defend her it didn't surprise Caesar and Maurice.

"Son...what your doing right now isn't wise..." he warned Zack while never turning his head.

"Neither is what I'm about to do..." Iris said softy, now having her knife positioned at his groin ready to plunge it in.

Everybody wondered where and when she pulled the knife out.

"Like he said...get your fucking hands off me...or your going to bleed out from your balls..." she threatened as she lightly pressed the tip to touch his pants.

The apes winced at the possible out come, though they were all silent encouraging her to go through with it espeacily Caesar.

The soldier let go and backed away from her and Zack backed away from him, Ellie ran over to check on her.

" _She's strong...._ " Luca signed.

" _She may be strong...but doesn't mean she can't get hurt.._." Maurice signed back to him.

Malcolm told her it was ok for her to go but before she did he went over and punched the soldier right in the face.

"If you ever touch her like that again...I swear I won't hesitate to shoot you next time or let Bruce tare out your throat" he threatened him, he then turned around to go outside with Iris following behind him. Caesar and the others watched them leave satisfied with what their good human friend did.

Once they got outside the building they walked aways until Iris stopped and turned around to look at him.

"You wanted to talk right?...let's talk" she said straight to the point.

"I do Iris but I can understand if you not feeling up to it right now..." he said sympathetically, knowing she had been through enough today.

"Let's just get over with it I don't want to bugged about this later..." she said as she brought a hand up to her head to rub her temple.

He sighed.

"Why did you run off like that yesterday?...I know you have anxiety when your around to many people but there was only those two plus Alex and I..."

"That wasn't it..."

"Then what was it the apes?...was it Caesar?..."

This caught the ape kings attention.

"How do you know him Iris? What did he-

"He's my brother Malcolm..." she cut him off.

Malcolm was shocked at this.

"You mean the one who you hadn't seen since you where a kid?..." he asked.

"Yea that one..." she said queitly.

"Iris why didn't you ever tell me?..."

Caesar was a little surprised she never told anyone about him but she also knew where the village was for the last 5 years and never said anything, she could have but she didn't.

There was never much to tell...we haven't seen each other 10 years and we both lived different lives in all those years...we both changed..." she depressingly.

Caesar gaze became a little sad at her comment, Iris then turned around to leave before pointing out they should hide better next time.

Malcolm watched her leave then looked on top of a building, locking eyes with Caesar and the apes who were trying to be unnoticed, Caesar's gaze then switched to Iris, watching as she left. They waited until Zack, the other doctor, and the soldier to leave before they went to talk Malcolm inside, Ellie greeted them as they came in they then began to talk about the bodies and the findings.

"The Soldier...believes it was ape...who did this...he will bring others" he said.

"It be hard for them do that due to the colony being against the idea of just a couple of them being here right now...trust me a lot of them have bad memories from Alpha-Omega."

"Inculding you?..."he asked.

Ellie gave Malcolm a concerned look.

"You heard what Iris said..." Malcolm said softly.

"You don't...have to-

"It's alright...you should know"he cut him off gently.

He took a deep sigh and took a seat in a chair.

"Your kind probably has a past with Alpha-Omega due to the fire they set 9 years ago but humans also don't have fond memories ethier...Alpha-Omega was known to shoot infected on site...it didn't even matter if it was a woman or child they would still shoot them, not only that sometimes they would kidnap people to do experiments on them...they tried to do that to Alex 5 years ago but Iris helped me save him...Alex was just a kid so was Iris yet she helped him...Alex's mother..my first wife Rita died shortly after we got him back" he depressingly.

The apes faces fell to shock and disgust at this information, they didn't know how humans could treat there own kind the same way they treated them or how could they do those things to childern. Maurice started to understand why the boy was so shy and quiet, Caesar could feel Malcolm's grief.

"I'm sorry..." he said sympathetically.

There was one question he wanted ask since he saw Iris pull the gun on the soldier.

"Why is...Iris so...fimilar with... Soldiers?"

"A year after her father died Alpha-Omega kidnapped her and trained her to be a child soldier...she was at their camp for a year" he told the ape king grimly.

This shocked him greatly.

"Did you know....about her-

"Her scars? Yes I did...she's been through hell and back Caesar I don't know much about her past but her eyes tell me everything...she's been hurt by both species so much she closed up her heart and shut herself out from the world..."

Caesar did see that she was hollow of her former self and hurt him to see her like that.

"I worry about her Caesar...I worry because she's gone to a dark place more then once and has even tried to hurt herself..."

Caesar became horrified by this information.

"She feels deeply and cares deeply... She may act cold but she's very compassionate.."

Caesar knew this was very ture about her, his son and Maurice also saw this in her.

"I don't want her to live the rest of her life alone..." Malcolm said sadly.

She wouldn't be alone, Caesar left her all those ago he wasn't going leave again, not when she needed him the most.

 

* * *

 

  
**Muir Park**

 

Iris slowly turned around to see a group of apes coming out the trees and bushes into plain sight, They stared at her with hostility along with holding spears and arrows that were aimed at her causing Bruce to growl at them.

 _"You guys are doing something really stupid right now..._ " she signed nonchalantly then crossing her arms.

" _It's only natural to want to protect are selves"_ a gorilla with slightly red fur signed to her.

"From me? Really? You think I'm dangerous?" she said chuckling thinking it was funny.

But their stares only confirmed they where serious which made her act serious as well.

"Are you guys serious?Yes I live out here, Yes I know were you guys live but I've never done anything to any of you" she said clearly annoyed.

" _Liar_!" a grey chimp signed aggressively, the other began to sign agressively while the other  screeched and hooted angrily.

" _She killed them!"_

_"She killed those humans and our apes!"_

She was bewildered by the last comment.

"Wait what do mean killed our apes?" she asked clearly confused.

" _After you left the village this morning two apes from a hunting party went missing we found them slaughtered two hours ago"  
_ the gorilla told her.

Iris was shocked by this news.

"And you think I did that?...." she said queitly.

" _You were near the village when it happened and you where found near the dead humans! You killed them just like you killed those humans!"_ the grey one signed while he screeched.

The others started to screech louder.

Iris realized they wouldn't listen to her and that she needed to get out there quick before one of them took a shot, she grabbed on the scruff of Bruce's neck and slowly led him backwards with her while the apes where arguing with each other but the Gorilla noticed what she was trying to do and tried to grab her, she stopped him by  punching him hard below the ribs and in his jaw, it bewildered him she could do such a impact and she used that to make a dash for it with Bruce. She could hear the enraged screeches of apes following behind her.

She her lungs burned with fire as she dodged through the trees, bushes, and rocks, Bruce was closely following her speed next to her. She didn't turn around to see if they where catching up to her, she knew if she did that it would slow her down, she did know that they were in the trees cause she could hear them, She just kept pushing herself to run faster even though her muscles and lungs where in great amount of pain at that moment and didn't help that her hair was flying into face. She could then hear the Gorilla  charging and getting closer to her, she knew gorilla charges where dangerous and if she got caught by him she would be seriously hurt.

Her luck finally ran out when She tripped violently over a rock and landed in the dirt causing Bruce to go over to her side, she tried to get back up but as she put pressure on her foot it shot up with pain making her crash right back down to the ground.

" BRUCE!RUN!RUN!" she yelled at him as she heard the apes getting closer.

Bruce whimpered, he didn't want to leave her but he also wanted to listen to her, Iris knew that he would die protecting her and she didn't want that.

"RUNNNNN!!!" she yelled again and this time he listened taking off into the forest.

The gorilla finally caught up to her  pounded his hands to her chest while growling, she weakly tried to defend herself. He then grabbed a fistful of her hair, lifted her head with it and slammed it hard against a rock which knocked her out cold.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow that chapter was hard to write cause it was like mixing in a old chapter with a new chapter...made my head hurt lol So not only is a human guy has a interest in Iris a certain ape is becoming intersted in her as well :)


	12. In and Out of It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris is in a daze...

" Well he obviously didn't kill you cause your still here, what happen when you came to?" he asked curiously.

  
" I don't really know it was all kind of a blur...he hit my head pretty hard...they took me to the village that much I firgured out... I also remember a lot sceeching and arguing...." she said nonchalantly.

 

* * *

 

  
**Muir Park 3 years ago**

 

When Iris came to she felt groggy and her vision was blurry, she realized that she was being carried over someone's shoulder upside down like a sack and she knew it was a ape because she could see fur. She tried her best to take in her surroundings but all she could make out was that she was still in the forest, her head throbbed in pain and she felt nauseous.

  
She was carried for awhile but was then thrown roughly to the dirt, she could hear loud screeching, she lifted her head up to see who had carried her and what she made out was a big blurry red ape, she realized it was the gorilla that bashed her head in, she also noticed she was in the middle of the ape village. She laughed a little at the image she saw she guessed this confused the apes because it made them quiet for a little bit, she then slowly brought her self into a sitting position but not before vomiting.

  
This made one side of the apes in hoot in concern and the other side screech in disgust, she could feel the gorilla glaring at her. Not only was her head throbing in pain but her ankle was too, she brought her hand up to hold head and she felt something wet and warm, she then brought hand back to her face and saw it was blood.

  
She looked at the gorilla who caused her injury through strands of hair that covered her face and he continued to glare at her.

  
" _The human female doesn't look well_ "

  
" _Let's kill her! She killed apes!"_

  
_" Wait for Caesar! Let him decide!"_

 

  
What Iris could mostly make of their signing while she was in and out of it was that Caesar wasn't here and they are deciding what ever are not to execute her for something that they think she did.

  
"I didn't...kill them" she told them hoarsely.

  
That all stopped signing and screeching to look at her.

  
" You were found...next to the dead humans...and you were near...the village when apes were killed.." the red gorilla said to her, Iris was surprised he could speak quite clearly.

  
She scoffed at this.

  
"Wow your suspose to be smart....but it's hard to believe with how stupid you are right now" she insulted him causing him to glare at her harder.

  
Some of the apes started to screech again in anger.

  
"You also live in the forest...and know where the village is....you have also shown to...be quiet vicious to your own kind" he said lowly with his patience running thin.

  
"If I hadn't one of your kind would have been shot and I've known where the village been for at least 5 years...if I wanted to kill any of you I would have done it a long time ago or least would of told the humans to let them charge in here gun blazing" she shot back at him.

  
The gorilla becamed shocked by this information so did the other apes, this made them screech louder.

 

"Your just blaming this on me because I'm human...the way you hunted me down and smashed my head in shows me your no different then humans that hurt you..." she said lowly to him.

  
This comment finally set the gorilla off as he grabbed her by the neck and started to slowly lift her up by it, Iris started to choke which made her try to pry at his hand that fit perfectly around her neck as she dangled in the air, some of the apes screeched in fear while the other encourage for the gorilla to strangle her to death.

  
"Don't ever compare....me to your kind..." he growled at her as he sqeezed her neck tighter.

  
Iris looked into to his eyes as she grunted and choked, while she saw rage she also saw a hint of a amusement at her pain, she chuckled and her action bewildered him and the rest of the apes.

 

"Why are you laughing?..." he asked getting annoyed.

 

"The dead apes don't have anything to with this....you just want a reason to hurt me don't you?..." she said hoarsly.

  
The apes brought there focus to the gorilla at her comment and he clearly didn't like this.

  
"Your are no different then a human...just like Koba and Pope.." she practically spat at him.

  
The apes had become horrified by her comment and this made the gorilla snap, he growled along with showing his teeth while tightening his grip around her neck intending for her death, Iris's vision started to go dark.

 

"STOP!!!!" a ape yelled.

  
This caused the gorilla to let go of her neck and she fell to ground gasping for air, the ape that yelled had jumped down to where they were and walked over to them.

  
Iris could tell they were arguing but couldn't make out there signs because her vision was becoming worse now, the next thing she knew was the ape was crouched next to her and reaching out to her.

  
She flinched as a reflex, the ape hooted softly to her trying to let her know he wasn't going to hurt her, he then cradled her face gently in his hands, Iris brought her face closer to see who it was and brought one of her hands up to touch his face, she could see his eye color was blue and she only knew one ape with that eye color.

 

"Blue..." she said quietly.

  
He smiled sadly at her and nodded, his hand then felt the blood that was dripping down her head, he expression went from shocked, to worried , and then inraged, he turned his head around to growl at the gorilla while bringing his aunt close to his chest protectivly.

  
The arguing had started again and she was having a really hard time staying awake, she noticed the gorilla about to grab her from her nephew.

 

"LEAVE HER!!!" a voice yelled.

  
Eveyones attention turned to it and it all sudden it became quiet, Iris could no longer tell what was going on, her head was basically in the clouds as the new voice was introduced, she heard some talking but couldn't make it out. She then felt Blue Eyes put a hand underneath her legs while the other supported her back and pick her up with her head leaned against his chest. Iris could see he was hurriedly walking up some stairs and at the top had a couple of apes, one female that was holding a baby that looked at her with worried eyes while she gentley touched her head, she soon fell to darkness.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go another chapter :)srry it's so short I've been sick this week so haven't been feeling that good :(


	13. Not Allowed to Leave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caesar punishes Red for what he did to Iris...

"How is it everytime you make a comment you manage to piss someone off Iris?" the man asked while rubbing his eyes.

 

"It's gift..." she said sarcastically with a small smile.

 

Not wanting to go down the rabbit hole of this topic he decided to change it.

  
"What happen after you woke up?"

  
"I was surrounded by familiar and unfamiliar faces along with being diagnosed with a concussion and sprained ankle...and I was told I wasn't allowed to leave......"

* * *

 

 

**Muir Park, Ape village 3 years ago**

 

Ellie had been shinning a light back and forth in each eye since she regained consciousness and frankly she was getting a little annoyed by it.

 

" Ellie could you stop now I swear that thing is making my head feel worse..." she grimaced as she held her head in pain.

 

Ellie put away the light and started to look at the gash on her head making Iris wince.

  
"Well that's what happens when you have concussion Iris...." she said quietly.

 

Iris took a look around to see she was in a huge hut and judging by the view it was high above ground, she could feel that she was laying in nest of something soft probably moss, she also noticed there was others in the room.

  
Malcolm stood behind Ellie while Caesar with  Maurice and Rocket stood in the corner of the hut, she quickly turned her gaze away from the ape king as soon as she locked eyes with him.

 

"Hold still Iris" Ellie told her sternly.

  
Iris groaned as her eyes turned to see Caesar's solemn expression.

 

**Flashback an hour ago**

Caesar was about to head back to the woods with the apes and Ellie and Malcolm  were about to head back the colony, they all just got out of the building when they heard barking.

  
Bruce ran over started to bark at Malcolm, everybody expected for Iris to come out any minute but when she didn't they got confused.

  
"Bruce what are you doing here?" Malcolm asked.

  
Bruce started to walk side to side and wine.

  
Caesar was getting a little concerned, he turned to look at Maurice who looked concerned as well.

  
"Does the dog always....act this way?...." Caesar asked Malcolm.

  
"No...and he definitely wouldn't have run off from Iris unless she asked him too..." Malcolm said queitly then turning his head to see his wife's worried eyes.

 

Caesar could tell by looking into the dogs eyes that was something wrong.

  
"Something is not right..." Caesar said.

  
Malcolm agreed with him.

 

"Bruce take us to her" Malcolm told the shepard, Bruce spun around and ran off to the direction of the woods, Malcolm and Ellie got into the jeep quickly while the apes went to get their horses.

  
Bruce didn't stop running as he took them deep into the forest, Bruce then stopped and started to whine, the apes stopped their horses and Malcolm and Ellie arrived in the jeep a minute later.

  
Bruce looked at the ground then back to them while whining, Caesar got off the horse and walked over to what the dog was looking at and what he saw shocked him, it was blood, a lot of it.

  
" _What is it?"_ Maurice signed to his friend concerned by his expression.

 

"That's blood..." Ellie said said quietly, her eyes filled with shock.

 

Everyone began to think the worse of what happen to Iris espeacily Caesar, he went over to Bruce and touched his back causing the shepard to look up at him.

  
"Find her...find her" he told him trying his best to his keep composer.

  
Bruce did what he was told and started to smell the blood and then run off to opposite direction, Caesar quickly got back into his horse along with the apes and Malcolm and Ellie got back to the jeep, they stayed on his tail as he led them through the woods, the way he was leading them started to become very familiar and they realized why when he brought them to the ape village.

  
Caesar could hear loud screeching as he quickly got off the horse with the others following behind him, he had a terrible feeling deep in his gut, the other apes moved out the way as he made his way to the center of the village and what he saw shook him to his very core along with the others that were with him, Iris bleeding badly from her head as she was being cradled by his son who was arguing with the the gorilla Red, this made him easily figure out that he was the one who caused Iris's head injury and finally snapped when the gorilla started to reach out for  his sister and probably was going to hurt his son to get her.

 

"LEAVE HER!!" he yelled enraged.

 

The apes stopped screeching and all turned their heads to finally notice their king had returned, it became deathly quiet. Blue Eyes was relieved to see his father,  Bruce started to growl at Red which only confirmed more to him that the gorilla was the cause behind this, most of apes having never seen a dog before started to screech a little but the raise of Caesar's hand shut them up though his eyes never left Red. He lightly put pressure on the Shepard's back to make him sit, Bruce whined in worry for his owner.

  
"Malcolm... hold him" he asked his friend lowly trying to keep his rage in check.

 

Malcolm took Bruce by the scruff of his neck and brought him over next to him, Caesar then walked over to his son and Iris, his gaze never leaving the gorilla.

 

"What...happened?" He asked dangerously low.

  
" _Two apes where murdered this morning, they where found after you left"_ Blue Eyes signed to his father.

  
Caesar's eyes widen in shock at this information.

  
" _Eveyone started to panic, some of them were blaming Iris....I told them we should wait for you to come back but some of them clearly didn't listen as they went out and took her..."_ Blue signed turning his gaze to glare at Red who kept his face expressionless at the moment.

  
Caesar turned his gaze to look at Iris, he brought his hand to touch her injured head, he could feel her blood in her hair, her eyes had a hard time keeping focus along with trying kept them open, he also noticed vomit next to her, along with that she was covered in mud, his face fell to sorrow at her condition.

 

"You hurt her?..." his question was made at Red while his gaze hadn't left Iris.

 

"Apes were killed after....she left village..apes have also seen....that she's violent...she's dangerous..." Red said nonchalantly defending his actions.

  
"You tried!....to kill her!" Blue Eyes yelled angrily.

  
The Apes were surprised and so were the humans by the prince yelling.

 

 

" _He was strangling her, he wanted to kill her father and she couldn't even fight back!"_ he signed aggressively.

 

Caesar trembled in rage at this information, he then felt a hand on his shoulder which made turn around to se Ellie and his gaze soften a bit.

  
"Caesar I need to take a look at her....she could have a concussion..." Ellie told him softly.

  
Caesar gestured for his son take Iris and lead Ellie and Malcolm upstairs, Blue Eyes hurriedly did that while the humans and the dog followed closely behind him.

  
Once they left Caesar turned back to glare at Red who's expression remained the same, he now also noticed there was some bruising and some blood his face who he no doubted Iris caused while she was trying to defend herself.

  
"I told eveyone to leave...her alone" he said lowly.

 

"I was only trying...to keep-

 

He never got to finish because Caesar pounced on him with rage while slamming his fists down on his chest hard, the apes watched in horror they hadn't seen him act like this since Koba insulted him. They wrestled on the ground beating at each other, until Maurice came over to pull him off, deciding that was enough, although he had a strong urge to let go of his friend to finish what he started, Caesar snapped his gaze to look at his friend.

 

" _Worry about him later, go see Iris...check on her"_ Maurice signed to him.

  
Caesar winced his eyes and then let a huff as turned his head back to the gorilla on the ground who was now being dragged roughly to his feet by Luca, Caesar then brought his attention to the other apes watching.

  
"The council will!....decide what to do!...about the human woman!...until then no ape outside council is to go near her!" Caesar yelled at the apes warning them and none them objected.

  
Caesar brought his gaze to Red who was now glaring at him.

  
"Get him out...of my sight" he growled under his breath as he walked off to head to the stairs with Maurice and Rocket following close behind him, he could feel Red glaring daggers in the back of his head as Luca dragged him somewhere else.

  
**End of Flashback**

  
"Well your going to need stitches Iris...I got my medical bag in jeep so it shouldn't be a problem..." Ellie said as stopped feeling her head started to feel her ribs from her open jacket.

  
Iris winced a little in pain at this.

  
"It doesn't seem like you ribs where cracked just bruised..." she said as she trailed her hands to her swollen ankle.

  
Iris winced in pain again.

  
"I don't feel a break so I think it's just sprained" she said as she lightly squeezed her ankle.

 

"Ok! Ellie as much I love being prodded at, I think I've been touched enough for one day" she said sarcastically, devoided of any emotion.

 

Ellie pulled away from her and stared at her with worried eyes.

 

"You got lucky Iris...you could have  
had more serious injuries..."

 

"It's not the first time I've been beaten Ellie....not even by a ape...." she said queitly as she held her head.

  
The apes in the hut were shocked by this information, Caesar espeacily.

 

"Doesn't mean you should be use to it...I'll back after I get my bag..." Ellie told her as she got up to walk out of the hut.

  
Iris began to lose herself deep in thought but then felt someone stroke her arm while hooting in concern, Iris flinched a little as she brought her head up to see who touched her. The one who touched her was female ape with braids who looked at her with concerned eyes, she realized she knew this ape.

 

"Cornelia?..." she asked a little surprised to see her.

  
Cornelia smiled gently at her, Iris suspected she came into the hut just resently and judging by the surprised look Caesar was giving the female she was right.

  
"Ellie and I will take you back home after this..." Malcolm told her softly.

  
"Thanks..."

  
"She can't leave...." Caesar said raspy.

  
His comment made her head snap to his direction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter for you guys:) sorry if it's short I wanted to make it longer but I started to go crazy trying to lolXd also I'm still feeling well and it seems like I'm having bad luck this month I haven't been really in the mood lately....this month hasn't been good...I try to update again as soon as I can and hope the month will get better :D


	14. New Home or Prison?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris has confrontation with Caesar...

" What do you mean you were not allowed to leave?" the man asked her confused with a raised eyebrow.

  
"I mean ecsacly what I said....I wasn't allowed to leave....eveyone was panicking with the murders going on...and they wanted to place the blame on someone so they placed it on me...I was forced to stay in the village so the village could have some peace of mind knowing I was in their plain of sight...knowing they could kill me easily if I did something out of line..."

 

"How did this make you feel Iris?....you've been held prisoner before...more then once...so how did it feel that your brother was basically keeping as one?..."

 

Iris subconsciously began to trace some scars on one her hands.

 

"I was angry, frustrated, and sad....I never thought he would do something like that to me...take away my freedom....but he had to come up with a kind of a compromise that both kept me safe and eased his apes...but what he didn't realize is he would soon have to face a bigger problem then the army or a killer in the woods" Iris said as she looked at the scars on her hands.

  
"And what would that be Iris?"

  
Iris brought her head back up so her eyes could meet the man's.

  
"A couple of his own would soon start a munity against him..."

 

* * *

 

  **Muir Park 3 years ago**

  
Iris looked at Caesar bewildered.

  
"What do you mean I'm not allowed to leave?" Iris asked lowly.

  
Malcolm seemed confused as well.

  
"You have to...stay here until...council figures out truth...of what happened....apes are becoming reckless..." Caesar said plainly.

  
"Do you actually think I killed them?...." she said as she struggled to pulled herself up with her limp, Cornelia hooted in concern and tried to stop the young woman's  attemp to limp over to her husband unafaird while glaring at him.

 

Malcolm made a move to help her but she shrugged him off, she was a least 3 feet away from the ape king when she stopped.

 

"I didn't kill them...I don't know who did but I wasn't me..." she said trying to control her rage.

  
She stared Caesar right in eyes not even flincing, most in the room where surprised she was brave enough to do this.

  
"Apes are scared and they want justice....some apes will try to kill you...like Red tried..." he said.

  
She scoffed.

  
" You may have a hard time believing this but I do have my own life with my own responsibilities" she said getting really irritated.

  
"And what kind of life is it Iris?" Malcolm asked.

  
She turned her head over to face Malcolm.

  
"Iris I may not agree with this but your in no condition to defend yourself from anyone or anything right now....you live out in middle of woods alone...you would be safer here..."Malcolm told her softly.

 

  
She could not believe what he just saying to her.

 

"And you think me being trapped in a place where half of the occupants hate me or want me dead will keep me safe...." her voice trembled with trying to contain her anger and a another emotion.

  
"They will not...hurt you again.." Caesar told her seriously.

  
She turned back to face him.

  
"How do you know they won't?....it's been shown that some of them haven't been listening to you lately...what do you think that's going to lead to" she said basically challenging his authority while looking him straight in the eyes.

  
Everyone could feel then tension in the room, causing a couple apes to hoot in anxiety, Caesar was becoming frustrated but was trying to keep himself calm, he then felt someone put a hand he turned to see that it was his wife causing him to relax a little.

  
" _Stop it both of you, there's been enough fighting for one day"_ Cornelia signed sternly to both of them while looking at them with concern.

  
Iris took a deep breath and ran her hand through hair, she then looked back to the king and queen a little more relaxed, Caesar seemed to more calm as well.

 

"What happened?"

 

They all turned to see it was Ellie who had spoke and Luca was with her, she could obviously feel the tension in the hut.

  
"Nothing...just found out I'm going to be staying here for awhile...with out my say in the matter" she said plainly while turning her head back to see his expressionless face.

  
"Iris-

  
"It's fine Malcolm! It not the first time I've been held prisoner...not even by a apes..." she snapped at him cutting him off while her gaze never leaving the king's.

  
The apes were shocked by this information and Caesar's harden gaze began to soften,  he turned his head away from her, beginning to feel a mixture of emotions, his wife noticed this and stroked his arm in concern.

  
"You will be...staying with Luca...for the time being...I need to bring the council together...to talk about you..." he said as he pointed to the gorilla that stood behind Ellie.

  
"As you command Highness..." she said sarcastically but her voice and face voided of any emotion.

  
She then limped her way out of the hut with Ellie's help.

  
_"Take her to get cleaned off and then being her to your hut"_ he signed to Luca as he watched her go, the gorilla huffed in reply and then followed the two women out.

  
Once they left he felt someone put a hand on his shoulder, it was Maurice.

  
" _She's just angry and frustrated_ " he signed to his friend, trying to reassure him.

  
"She is right about...one thing though" he said quietly.

  
" _And what is that?"_

  
He turned his head to look at the orangutan.

  
"Some of them are...beginning to rebel... just like Koba and Pope."

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter I'm sorry it so short didn't really have enough energy to write it long, I really want to thank the people who like my story (despite my atrocious writing lol ^^;)and for the reviews and support it makes me keep going when I feel like no one likes my story


	15. Skin Deep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellie has questions...

"With your temper Iris I'm surprised you didn't hit him" the man said as he leaned back in his chair.

 

" No matter how angry he made me I would've never have hitted him..." she said softly.

 

"Your stay wasn't that horrible though right? You clearly became close with Blue Eyes and a few others."

 

She smiled sadly while drifting off in thought, remembering fond memories of the blue eyed ape and someone else.

 

"The beginning wasn't horrible...nothing I couldn't handle but later on things...happened that effected everyone" she said queitly while rubbing the scar on her neck.

 

* * *

 

 

**The Ape Village, 3 years ago**

 

Iris stumbled down the steps of the stairs while holding onto the tree for balance, Ellie tried to help her but she refused. When they got to the bottom all the apes near stopped what they where doing to look at her, some of them glared at her while others signed  with each other as they walked by, Iris kept her face expressionless and avoided her their gaze in general as the gorilla lead the 2 woman to the place she could get cleaned off. She then saw a familiar face sitting on a log, it was Blue Eyes and he wasn't alone he had a baby ape with him.

  
Once he saw her a look of relief fell on his face and she smiled weakly at him, he quickly got up and walked over to her, he caught her off guard when he hugged her but she slowly hugged him back while carefully keeping herself from squishing the baby, the others around them where surprised that there prince was hugging the human,she then pulled away to look at the blue eyed ape.

  
"I'm glad...your alright?" he said to her.

  
She looked at him then to the baby who was now looking at her, Blue Eyes looked down at him too.

 

"He's cute...." she said quietly as she lightly stroked his face with her finger which both his little hands grabbed as he stared at her curiously.

  
"What's his name?.." She asked Blue Eyes.

 

"Cornelius....my brother.."

  
She looked at Blue Eyes a little surprised by this information then back to Cornelius, she didn't know Caesar had another son but then again she never let him talk to her long enough for him to explain anything. Her hair had fallen past her shoulders to hang in front of her face and this caught Cornelius's attention, he used one of his hands to reached out and grabbed a strand of it then let go of her finger that his other hand was holding and used it to feel her hair, it brought a smile to both of them but the apes around them became shocked or nervous.

  
"What did...you and...father talk about?..." he asked her.

 

She gently removed Cornelius's hands from her hair causing the baby hoot a little bit in protest, she then looked back at him.

 

"Your father has put me on lockdown basically..." she said plainly.

  
"Lockdown?..." he asked confused.

  
"I can't leave this place for awhile..."

  
A part of the blue eyed ape was happy that he was going get to spend time with his aunt but the other part of him became crestfallen do to her expressionless face.

  
Ellie then placed a hand on her shoulder causing her to turn her head to look at her.

  
"Iris the sooner I get your head stitched up the better..."

  
Iris took a big sigh and turned her head back to look at Blue Eyes.

  
"I'll talk to you later Blue...you should talk to your parents if you want to know the rest" she said queitly as Luca led them to continue their previous destanation, she noticed out the corner of her eye that Cornelia was coming down the stairs heading over to Blue Eyes.

 

  
Luca had lead them to a cave that had a waterfall, he gestured to Iris to use one of the pools of water that was inside the cave. Iris slowly made her way over to one of them and then started to take off her clothes, Ellie and Luca got a better look of her scars now, she could see Ellie looking sadly and Luca wincing at the sight of her naked scared flesh, she began to wrap her arms around her body to cover herself beginning to feel self-concious. The gorilla seemed to notice this so he turned around to face the entrace while Ellie sat down and watched her step into the pool.

  
She washed off the mud then she got out and changed into a black shirt with brown pants that Ellie gave her, after she changed she sat next to Ellie so she could start putting in the stitches for her head. It was painful and caused her to wince a couple times but the rest of the time she looked out the entrance voidly.

 

"Where's Bruce?" Iris asked weakly.

  
"We put him in the jeep because the apes where making a fuss about him...he'll stay with us for right now... you'll probably will have to ask Caesar if he can stay here" she said while not stopping what she was doing.

 

Iris closed her eyes in relief knowing he was alright.

 

"He saved your life Iris...if he hadn't found us...who knows what could have happened.."

  
Ellie then saw Iris bring her hand up to the scar on her neck to rub it.

 

"Do you want to talk about them..." Ellie asked her carefully.

 

"Not really..." she replied while still looking straight.

 

"Iris the apes that hurt you-

 

"Their both dead Ellie" she cut her off curtly still never turning her head, this surprised Ellie enough to stop what she was doing and made Luca turn his head slightly, becoming interested in the the conversation

  
"They have been dead for 5 years...they can't hurt me anymore" she said queitly as her her hand left her neck.

  
Ellie started to do the stitches again, deciding to drop the subject for now and Iris continued to stare out the entrance voidly as a lone tear dripped down her check and Ellie and Luca saw this.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter I'm sorry it's so short and weak l hope you liked it :)


	16. Starry Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris sneaks out.

" I didn't really have a permanent residence  during the time I lived in the village... So I stayed with Luca for a while..." she said quietly with her gaze lowered  as a couple tears ran down her checks which she quickly wiped away.

 

"What was your relationship like with him?" the man asked.

 

"A little awkward in the beginning...they most he would say to me was a sentence..."

 

* * *

 

 

**The Ape Village 3 years ago**

  
After Ellie stitched her she headed back to the jeep with Malcolm and Luca led Iris through the village, as she limped her way through she could see out of the corner of her eye the apes began to notice her and began to sign or screech either from curiosity or in anger and hate. Iris blocked them out and kept her head straight to stare into oblivion as she followed Luca, it was like she on auto pilot but it soon then felt like she would lose control when she gripped her chest lightly from having some trouble breathing , she was caught off guard when the gorilla growled at the apes to be quiet obviously getting tried of the screeching and comments.

 

The apes became silent and went back to what they were doing but she could feel most of them glaring daggers into her back, the gorilla then suddenly wrapped his arm around her waist while making her arm hold his shoulder, Iris looked at his arm then looked back at him in surprise and a little in irritation.

  
" _Your too slow, taking to long to get there"_ he signed to her as he helped her limp the rest the way.

  
Iris scoffed and turned her gaze away from him, a couple minutes later they arrived at his hut, once inside she sat down and took couple deep breaths while running a hand through her still wet hair, Luca just stood there watching her.

 

"How long am I going to stay with you?...." she asked him weakly.

 

He didn't respond and instead went over to the other side of the hut and placed down the spear he had been carrying in his other hand and placed it against the wall of the hut.

 

"Are you ok with me staying here?" she asked getting a little annoyed by his lack of response.

  
He just looked at her still not responding.

  
"Are you even going to talk to me?" she asked bluntly.

  
He just huffed and walked out the hut before turning to look back at her.

  
" _Don't leave"_ he signed to her sternly then leaving.

 

"Where am I going to go?..." she scoffed quietly.

  
She then leaned her head back against the hut and closed her eyes getting lost in deep thought.

 

* * *

 

 

It was becoming darker and Luca still hadn't come back yet, Iris could feel her anxiety acting up from being in the hut for too long and it didn't help that she felt and heard to many others around her, speacily since some of them hated her very exsistance.

  
No longer being able to stand being couped up she snuck out  of the hut while staying hidden in the darkness, she crept further away from torches from the village until the only light she saw was the moon and the stars.

  
She stared at them in awe as she backed into something hard she turned around to see it was a watch tower made of wood she also noticed that no one using it, getting a idea she climbed up it while ignoring the pain in her ankle until she got to the top, she then sat down to stare at the sky.

 

The stars were a sorce of comfort for her at night when the city lost it's power nine years ago and she enjoyed watching them even before that, she liked them out in woods better because you could see them clearer. She was so lost in her own little world that she didn't even noticed someone was climbing up with a torch until they where half way up.

 

She turned around quickly ready to face the worst for only for her to face Blue Eyes, she sighed a little in relief at this not seeming to notice the young ape's stern stare.

  
"Blue what you doing out here?..." she asked softly.

  
" _I could ask you the same thing"_ he signed as he got closer too her.

  
"I started to suffocate in the hut...I don't do well in closed spaces for to long...no one saw me I'm in the darkness."

  
She knew apes couldn't couldn't she that well in the dark so they mostly lit torches or went to sleep when it was dark.

  
" _Not many apes like you being here, most of them hate humans do realize what could have happened if one of them caught you?"_ he sighed aggressively to her clearly mad.

  
Iris could tell from his eyes something had him overwhelmed.

  
"What happen today?" she asked.

  
Blue Eyes took a deep huff.

  
" _Ape council gathered to talk about you"_

  
"And most are pissed that I'm staying here" she said bluntly.

 

He nodded as she sighed running her hand through her hair.

 

" _He told them by you living here and learning from us we can show the other humans we are not savages, so we can come to a peace._ "

 

"It's going take a lot more that Blue....for both sides...." she quietly while returning to look at the sky.

 

Her response made him look at her solemnly.

  
_"Why are you up here anyways?"_

  
She turned her head back to him and smiled a little she then put her hand on the torch and started to pull the torch closer to her, Blue Eyes realized what she about to do and started to pull it back.

  
"It be alright" she told him softly.

  
" _I won't be able to see"_ he signed.

  
"It's ok my vision in the dark is better so I can lead you down afterwards" she told him reasure him.

  
He still looked uncertain until she touched his hand.

  
"Trust..." she said quietly.

  
He looked at the torch then to her, he then reluctantly let her blow out the torch and darkness surrounded them , she touched his shoulder and gestured for him to look at the sky.

  
"This is why I'm up here."

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter I hope you guys like it and I hope you guys had a good thanksgiving :D


	17. Memories of Fondness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris remembers things...

"I miss those moments....when times could be peaceful and beautiful...to be with ones that you cared about ...but it eventually became a rarity...just memories" she said as her mind trailed off, her gaze not really focused on anything.

 

" Like the happier times  with your family? with your friends?....With your daughter?..."the man asked her.

  
Her eyes quickly met his filled with shock and dismay while her whole body became stiff.

  
"She's around 2 years old now am I right?" he asked.

 

"How did you find out about her?..." she asked dangerously low.

 

"It was reported that she died in childbirth because of premature labor but I'm not surprised you faked her death with Alpha-Omega and the renegade apes after you....to become pregnant in the amidst of war....It must have been difficult for you...espeacily since you had a miscarriage a month before you conceived her..." the man kept trailing on apparently not listening to her and obviously couldn't feel the rising tension that was coming off her.

 

"Answer me!..." she raised her voice, trying to contain her rage while her voice broke with sorrow.

 

"She's with your husband in the new ape village now isn't she? Along with your other daughter and your infant son"

  
She immediately charged out her chair across the room to the man, she threw the table that was separating them like it was nothing and slammed the man to the ground while holding his shirt, clearly catching him off gaurd. The man looked at her in surprise and in a little fear the actions she just did as he stared into her golden hazel eyes that were filled with wrath.

 

* * *

 

 

**Ape village, 3 years ago**

  
Iris watched as Blue Eyes look at the stars clearly in a whole different light.  
A smile started to grow in her face from his reaction, Blue Eyes noticed this and raised a eyebrow.

 

"What?..." he asked

  
"Your reaction is really cute right now" she said still smiling causing him to turn his head away.

  
"I'm not...cute..." he grumbled.

  
She chuckled and then started to look back at the sky then looked down.

  
"Your father and I use to do this when we were younger..." she said quietly.

  
This sparked the blue eyed ape interest.

  
**Flashback 15 years ago**

  
_Iris couldn't sleep, you think after spending the whole day running around and climbing in the woods with her brother she would be passed out by now but there was something that nawing at her that kept her from sleeping, the events from before they went to the woods._

  
_She got up from her bed and looked out the window to see the moon was shinning brightly tonight it basically lit the whole room, she then went out of her room to the attic she walked up carefully so she wouldn't wake up anyone, when she got to the top she could see Caesar was still awake and sitting on his bed._

  
_"Hey can't sleep ethier?" she asked quietly._

  
_He looked a little surprised she was up he nodded in response._

  
_"Did you have fun today?" she said with a smile as she got on the bed to sit in front of him._

  
_He smiled back at her and nodded._

  
_"You know dad said he's going to bring us there again probably with that Coraline lady too, she's seems nice hahaha I can't believe you told dad to ask her on a date right infornt of her" she laughed lightly._

  
_He hooted a little in laugher in return but his expression began to turn to solemn when his gaze fell to his leg injury, Iris looked at it and him sadly._

  
_"Does it still hurt?..." she asked softly._

  
_He shook his head._

  
_"Why did neighbor hurt me? I just wanted to play" he signed depressingly._

  
_It broke Iris's heart, she wrapped his arms around him into hug which he quickly returned._

  
_"Sometimes people fear things they don't understand...they don't want to open their minds so it makes them do horrible things...but not everyone is like that" she said as she rested her head on his shoulder._

  
_Caesar then brought his hand to the back of her neck and brought her head to his, both of their eyes closed in calm, Iris could feel the light of the moon shinning on her face causing her open her eyes turn her head in the direction of Caesar's window almost memorized by it, she then turned back to Caesar who clearly was wondering what she was thinking._

  
_"I want to show you something" she said with a smile and got off his bed to head down the steps of his room, Caesar followed her confused of where she was leading him._

  
_They walked carefully back to her room where she opened the window and started to climb up the roof gesturing for the ape to follow her, Caesar eyes widen in shock and in a little worry._

  
_"Iris it's too dark it dangerous!" he signed._

  
_"The moon is very bright tonight so don't worry and I'll help you climb up if you have trouble seeing" she said with a big smile._

  
_Caesar was still a little unsure but still went to the window._

  
_"Won't father get mad?" He signed._

  
_"Not if he doesn't find out" She said as she help guide him up there, could feel the coldness and the roughness from the roof on her hands and bare feet._

  
_Caesar was a little nervous because he couldn't really see but relaxed when they got to the top where they both sat down, Iris then pointed at the full moon and the stars._

  
_"Isn't it pretty?" she said with a smile._

  
_Caesar did agree with her but also knew that city lights made them harder to see, Iris could tell what he was thinking and turned to look at him._

  
_"You know the stars and moon are brighter and clearer in the woods, dad said we could go camping there sometime" she said as she smiled which he quickly returned in excitement at the thought of spending more then a day in the woods._

 

**End of flashback**

  
Iris looked like in a daze sadly as she looked at the sky.

  
"My father?...what was.. he like...back then?" Blue Eyes struggled to say.

  
She turned her head over to look at him.

  
"He was just like you" she quietly with soft eyes.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another one wow for that one done fast I'm on a roll lol well I hope you enjoy.


	18. Looking Towards Dawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris has a conversation

Iris's arms where both tied the arms of each side of the chair she was sitting in,  she breathed deeply and weakly glared at the man at the table through strands of messy hair that covered her face , the younger and impulsive Iris probably would have tried to rip the rope off and not to think ahead of what action she decided to do but the person she had become decided to sit there and see what happens even though she had a fire going through her right now, she turned to the door at the end of the basement to see a man she hadn't seen before guarding it giving him the same glare.

 

"I'm sorry we tied you to chair Iris but you really gave us no choice in the matter" the man said breaking the silence.

  
Iris wobbly turned her head back to him.

  
"Your goons didn't have to drug me" she said lowly while her gaze indicated to the man at the door.

  
The man sighed deeply.

  
"Iris if we wanted to hurt your childern, your husband, or anyone in the new ape village we would have done so before you even came here.." he told her seriously.

  
She huffed deeply.

  
"I wouldn't worry about the sedative anyway....your body is going break it down pretty quickly do to you not being ecsacly human anymore.

* * *

 

 

**Ape Village, 3 years ago**

  
Blue Eyes bought Iris back to Luca's hut who was no surprise angry that Iris dissapeared. The Prince quickly covered for her before she could defend herself kind of surprising her a little, he basically said that he took her out from some air as she was getting restless, Luca thought it was strange that human woman wanting to go out at night but he huffed if off.

 

" _Next time tell me if your going to take her_ " he sighed to the Prince.

 

Blue Eyes nodded and said goodbye to Iris, Luca then gestured for her to go in the hut, when she got in she noticed there was a couple of furs laying in the corner.

  
" _For you to sleep on"_ the gorilla signed to her as he went to the other side of the hut to his moss bed, it surprised Iris that he was thinking about keeping her warm during the cold nights when she hadn't thought about her sleeping arangment at all.

  
"Thank you...." she said softly.

  
He grunted in acknowledgement and turned over to sleep.

  
Iris then went over the furs and laid down on  them,making herself comfortable on the soft and warm furs but not planning to go to sleep anytime soon due to being afaird of what waits for her when she does, she's hadn't a good night sleep in 10 years, instead she decided stare at the roof of the hut getting lost in thought, she didn't even notice Luca had been watching her.

  
She eventually fell asleep failing to stay awake.

  
Blood

Death

Pain

Fire

Fear

A child screaming

  
She was shook awake making her bolt up gasping while looking around her surroundings making her remember she was still in the hut, when she noticed a hand on her shoulder she flinched away from it but calmed down when she saw  it was Luca, his black eyes staring at her with concern and surprise.

 

" _You where having a nightmare it....seemed pretty bad"_ he signed to her.

  
She realized she woke him up.

  
"I'm sorry..." She said weakly as she rubbed her eyes.

  
"You don't need to be sorry, you can't control nightmares"

  
"I wish you could though..." she said queitly.

 

She looked out of the opening of the hut to see that it was barely dawn.

  
"Could I go outside?...I don't think me staying  here will make my mood any better"She practically pleaded with him.

 

He huffed and got up.

  
" _I have to meet with the council anyways, will just be early"_ he signed.

  
He held a hand to her and helped her up and she followed him outside, her ankle  surprising seemed to be a little bit healed as she could walk a without help which surprised the gorilla a little.

 

* * *

 

 

She sat on log with moss at the bottom of her shoes, Luca told her with a hard stare  to stay there and not to run off this time and due to her being beyond tried and emotionally drained she didn't really plan on going anywhere ethier. She could feel the cold foggy air nip at her skin causing her to zip up her jacket for warmth, she then ran a hand through hair and turned her head to the direction of where south was, she could see little bits of the sun shinning through the coulds, she always like to look at the sky, to see how dusk, dawn, and the moon made it look. Her gaze then followed south, she always looked towards south and resently it seemed that she was looking towards it more frequently she geussed it was because the promise she made 9 years ago but it was hard to keep a promise to the dead.

 

She took a big sigh and started to sing the song As Real as You and Me as she watched the dawn rise through the fog, she was in such deep thought that she didn't notice something got closer to her until see felt it on her back. She turned her head around to see Caesar's youngest son.

  
"Hello where did you come from?" she asked him gently as she held one his hands to guide him to her lap, he hooted softly and looked up at her face with curious eyes.

  
"If I recall your name is Cornelius"

  
He hooted excitedly in response while his hands grabbed strands of her hair which made Iris smile, She then noticed some one behind her causing her to turn around to see Cornelia who was smiled gently at her.

  
"Hi..." she replied softly to the Queen.

  
Cornelia walked over and sat down next to her, Iris looked between her and the baby not really knowing how to react because she was not very good at being social.

  
" _He likes you_ " she signed to while gesturing to her son.

  
"I think it's because my hair"Iris chuckled lightly while grabbed his hands that where playing with her hair and pulled him up to put him a better position in her lap.

  
Cornelia hooted a little bit in laughter at this, Iris really looked at her and noticed even though she had aged it hadn't effected her beauty at all.

  
" _Well it is pretty_ " she sighed to her while she admired it.

 

Iris cast her gaze away from the female at this comment.

  
"Nothing about me is pretty inside or out" she replied depressingly causing Cornelia to look at her sadly.

  
The Queen looked at the scars that she could see on her neck and her hands and she knew she had more from what her husband told her, it broke her heart.

  
"You have....been hurt so much" she said to her as she gently touched the scar on her neck then slowly brought her hand down to touch the scars on one of her hands, Iris kept face straight and voided of any emotion.

 

 _"I'm so sorry that one of my kind hurt you so horribly"_ she signed to her apologetically.

 

"And I'm so very sorry my kind treated your kind so cruelly...." Iris said sincerely, Cornelius hooted at her for attention so she grabbed his hands and let him jump on her lap, he hooted in excitement.

 

" _Your kind has been cruel to you also..."_ Cornelia signed.

  
Iris stopped helping Cornelius jump and stared straight ahead.

  
" _How did you get the scars on your hands?..."_

 

"From climbing over a barbed wired fence..." She replied nonchantly.

  
Cornelia stroked her arm sadly with her hand at this information, Cornelius started to sense s the tension and started to hoot a little distress, Iris not wanting to depress him started to tickle him on his chest causing him hoot in laughter loudly and making the two females smile.

 

" _Your singing was also pretty"_ Cornelia signed to her while smiling, clearly trying to change the subject.

  
"Thanks...." Iris said bashfully, she was little surprised that she and probably Cornelius heard her.

  
Iris noticed that Cornelia was now looking at her hair attentivtly, she took a big sigh.

  
"You want to do my hair don't you?" she said plainly.

  
Cornelia smiled big in response.

  
"Alright..." Iris agreed reluctantly.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok here's another chapter I hope you guys like it and the song Iris was singing was one Rihannas that I really like :)


	19. Becoming Useful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris helps with repairs....

Iris rubbed her sore wrists that were resently tied to the chair that she was sitting in.

  
"Do feel better now Iris?" the man asked

  
She brought her head to look at him.

  
"I'll live.." she replied softly.

  
"Then let's get back to topic, what happened after you healed?" the man asked straight the point.

  
"They had me help out with repairs with the village...even though Koba and his followers nearly burned it down a month before there was still repairs that needed to be done..."

  
"How did the apes react about you working with them? I think they would have shown you prejudice.." the man asked curiously.

  
"Nothing I couldn't handle..." she replied nonchalantly.

 

* * *

 

 

**Ape village, 3 years ago**

  
It had been a week and her ankle had already been healed surprising Ellie and the  Oba's, Caesar wondered about it but decided to worry about another time and give her a job to do which she gladly took do from being restless from doing nothing for the last week, she would help with the damage that Koba did to the village a month ago.

Luca didn't have to wake her up due her being awake long before him but it didn't really surprise the gorilla due to the nightmares she was having, the dark rings around her eyes where proof of it.

As they walked down to area that was being constucted Iris tied up her long hair which now had little braids with beads in it done by Cornelia as she looked around to see the damge, parts of the old wall and structures were burnt with a ugly black, apes dragged away the burnt wood while others brought new ones, it was just evidence that lead to devastation and backlash of both species and were still paying for, the apes glared and signed hateful things  about as she walked by but she just ignored them and kept a emotionless face.

  
Iris then noticed a very familiar face  across from her that made her stop walking, he was signing to a grey ape , it was red it was then he felt her gaze on him turning his head to see her causing him to glare at her, tension started to rise and everybody could feel it and they where anticipating a brawl would happen but instead Iris flipped him off, some of the apes knew what it meant causing them to screech a little and sign about her boldness while the others remained confused until they were told what she did, it was clear Red definitely knew what it meant cause rage fillled his eyes.

 

Luca put his hand on her shoulder to lightly guide her away before something did happen while sending a warning look to Red who quickly looked away, as the gorilla led her away her gaze eventually left the red gorilla but she could feel daggers being stared into her back.

  
When they got to their destination the apes that where working stopped what they where doing to stare at her. One ape a dark grey chimpanzee went over in paticalular went over to Luca and started signing to him.

  
_"Why is the human woman here?"_   he signed a little annoyed.

  
" _Caesar assigned her to help with repairs, too make herself useful"_ the gorilla signed back to him.

  
The apes screeched in protest about this, she looked at them and back to Luca and the other ape emotionless, the ape stared hard at Luca and then turned his gaze over to Iris clearly not thrilled about this order, he then huffed deeply in reluctant acceptance and turned his head back to the gorilla, Luca gestured for Iris who was standing behind him to come closer to them.

  
" _You understand sign right?_ " he signed her.

  
"Yes..." she replied softly.

  
" _Don't think your going to have it easy just because your human or female"_ he said signed bluntly to her.

  
"I may look like a twig but I'm stronger than I look, I can handle it" she told him plainly.

  
He huffed.

  
_"I'll leave her to you for now Spear"_ he signed to the ape.

  
He then turned to Iris.

  
" _I'll come get you later try not to get into trouble"_ he signed to her and then walked off.

"No promises..." she said quietly as she watched him leave.

  
Spear clearly annoyed buy the screeching signed irritatedly to them get back to the repairs and led Iris to where she would be helping out, Iris spent most of the time cutting and tying up the wood or moving away burnt pieces stucture while the apes avoided her like the plague, she would see others sign snide remarks about her a couple of them rudely bump into her as she walked by, someone even tripped her purposely, she didn't let that her to she kept on a working with not showing any emotion. She tried help the others out but they would ethier hatefully brush her off or ignore her so she ended up working alone the whole day under watchful eyes of Spear.

 

 

* * *

 

  
They they stoppedworking by dusk but they would start working again tomorrow by dawn. Iris ended up at sitting on one the logs at the empty school beyond exhausted and while her whole body was sore due the days labor, she held her head with her hand as she bent over then slowly brought herself to sit straight up and run a hand through her sticky wet louse hair to get a better look at the wall with their laws.

Ape Not Kill Ape

Knowledge is Power

Apes Together Strong

  
She then heard a grunt from behind her she turned around to see Maurice, she watched as he walked over to her sat down next to her on the log.

  
" _Are you alright?_ " he signed.

  
"I'm fine...just tried" she said quietly under her breath as she rubbed her eyes then brought her attention back to the wall.

  
Maurice could tell while she was tired from today's long work she was also tired from lack of sleep from the dark rings around her eyes.

  
" _Did you have trouble sleeping last night?"_

  
"I have trouble sleeping everynight..." she said softly as she looked at him.

  
His green eyes looked at her with concern.

  
" _Are you uncomfortable sharing a hut with Luca...."_ he signed to her.

  
"What?...no...I just have...nightmares, I'm not uncomterable sleeping near a ape... Caesar use to get into my bed to sleep with me when we were younger so it doesn't bother me" she explained softly.

  
" _Do you have them a lot?..."_

 

"Yes...even when I'm awake" she said quietly as she turned her head back to the wall.

 

" _They are our laws_ " he told her noticing attentively looking at the wall.

  
"Knowledge is Power....Knowledge also leads to a horrible death then the animals that know nothing..." she said bluntly.

  
Maurice looked at her a little taken back her comment.

 

" _Did you come up with that?"_

  
"No...William Shakespeare...because of one human thrist for knowledge that it led other humans to destroy themselves... e-even though he was only doing it for a good cause" she said sadly as  she turned around to look at damaged part of the village.

  
"Humans had a no kill law too Maurice....and yet people got murdered everyday even before Caesar led the apes to freedom...and Your law didn't stop Koba from causing devastion and death" she said plainly.

 

" _Koba was full of hate...in the end was blinded by it..."_ he signed grimly to her.

  
"There was always something wrong with Koba Maurice....he just finally snapped...though while I do agree humans had a hand turning him into what he was....he didn't have to follow the path he chose for himself... " she told he seriously.

 

  
She turn head back to the orangutan.

 

"And I know all about hate...I've been the receiving end of it for the longest time...from both sides... It hard to get ride of it..."she said depressingly as she touched her neck.

  
Maurice looked at her sadly at this and this made her look away from him, they sat in silence.

  
" _Why did Caesar sleep in you bed when he was younger?"_ he asked curiously but also trying to break the ice.

  
"I probably shouldn't have told you that, he was afaird of thunderstorms when he was younger, our grandfather wasn't always feeling well and our father sometimes work late so the nights he wasn't home Caesar would come to sleep with me....he was really cute back then but he probably won't like me talking about this...he would be embrassed" she said with a small smile as she looked at him who was attentively listening to her, quite interested to hear about his leader when he was a child.

  
_"I like what you've done to your hair"_ he signed as gestured to it.

  
Iris picked up one of the beaded braids to look at it.

  
"Yea Cornelia did this, I don't do stuff like this usually but...she's kind of hard to say no too" she said as she chuckled lightly.

  
Maurice hooted a little in laughter in agreement.

 

* * *

 

 

Maurice eventually left and decided to look Luca because she got tired of waiting for him she had been walking by the rocky part of village near the waterfall when someone grabbed her roughly by her arm and into a rocky inclove and slammed her into the rocky wall.

She tried to fight the assailant off only for her arms to held strongly over her head and when saw her assailant was her eyes widen in extreme horror made her attemp to them off stronger.

  
"ONYX!MPHHH!! " she practically screamed but was quickly muffled by his hand.

  
"Oh Iris....I've missed you..." he said euphorically and while his eyes promised something dark.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no Onyx has appeared what will happen now,I hope you guys had a good Xmas and happy holidays, I hope you guys like this chapter I would also like to thank Lmere for helping me with ideas with this chapter she's great :D if you've read her pota story If Only you should read her sequel So we Descend :)


	20. A Past Evil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris meets Onyx again....

The room was deathly silent that seemed to last forever until the man dared to say something.

  
"Did he?...is that when-

 

"No....that didn't...happen till later...." she cut him off firmly while struggling to speak as her head was turned to the side as she avoided eye contact.

  
"Why didn't you tell Caesar what he did to you in the past Iris?....it could have prevented what he did you later on?" he asked seriously.

  
She huffed.

  
"Eveyone always asked me that...why did I never tell him...even after Onyx did...the deed...I knew he would try to kill him."

  
The man raised a eyebrow at this.

 

"I'm having a hard time believing you didn't want him dead Iris?"he asked skeptically.

  
"Trust me I wanted him to burn after what did to me and....other things he did..." she practically growled as she ran a hand through her hair.

  
"Then why didn't you tell him?" he asked clearly wanting to know the answer.

  
She turned her body around to face him straight and to stare right at him.

  
"Because there was tension in village after Caesar killed Koba, others were beginning to question him and where he stood, While most agreed with Caesar's ideals the others....if they witnessed or heard that Caesar punished a ape for something they did against a human....I was trying to prevent a civil war from happening...." She struggled to say.

  
"But it did happen, in the middle of a upcoming war...and even though you tried there wasn't much you could do to stop it" the man said plainly.

 

* * *

  
**Ape Village 3 years ago**

  
Iris looked at the ape who smiled at her with a sadistic grin in shock and horror, Onyx removed the hand that was covering her mouth and slowly traced his leatherly rough hand down her skin, to her neck only for him to grab her neck tightly causing her to gasp, her hands now free gripped on his arm tightly while glaring at him.

  
"How.. are you-

  
"Still Alive..." he cut her off.

  
She nodded.

  
He hooted a little in laughter and then squeezed her neck tighter and pushing her against the rock more making her close her eyes and grunt, while feeling the rock wall stabbing into her back, when she opened her eyes again she saw the apes face was closer to her now.

  
"After Koba killed...Pope he took rest...of apes and brought them...back to village"

  
Iris wasn't really surprised considering apes follow the highest branch so after Koba killed Pope the rest of his followers probably followed Koba back to the village with little protest, Iris didn't stay that long after Koba killed Pope to figure out what happened afterwards.

 

Onyx the leaned forward and brought his head against her exposed collarbone, causing Iris to lift up her head up high and grunt in disgust, he could feel her skin against his face and hear her heart race reacting to him, causing him to sigh in content, he then brought his head back up to look at her and his eyes caught her neck and collarbone more specifically the scars on them, he smiled at them his eyes also caught bruise hand print left by Red.

 

"Red...was rough on you....wasn't he" he said plainly.

 

"Your no different you sadist..." she spat at him while glaring daggers.

  
He grinned at this.

  
"I was surprised...during that time...that Moon never took you....even though you...were his mate" he said as he stroked her scars with his hand making her shudder and groan.

  
"You sick bastard..." She said raspy while gritting her teeth.

  
"In the end...his love for you...was his end...."

 

Iris could no longer take the ape touching her anymore so she hit him in the throat hard and then grabbed onto his shoulder and rammed her knee into his chest hard causing to knock the wind out of him and causing him to bend over to catch his breath making him let go of her, she took her chance and ran far away from him.

 

* * *

 

  
Iris found herself sitting by a log near a firepit but not too close to it do to her slight phobia, she stared at it in a daze While putting her hand into her pocket and took something it was a black rock tied up in a string making a necklace, she looked at it sadly.

 

**Flashback 9 years ago**

  
_She struggled, fought, scratched, and but the men who dragged her down the dark stoned hallway but it proved futile, she had been at this hell for about 2 months and still had been defiant and because she of that they had punished her in different ways but this time they decided to put her solitary confinement._

_They opened a metal door and threw her inside then shutting it on her, she got back up and started to kick and hit the metal door but it proved useless and only hurting her hands._

  
_"YOU BASTARDS!!!" she screamed._

  
_She then looked at the the small stoned cold room which it's only light came from high above from a small opening that was barred._

  
_She then started to kick the door again._

  
_"It no use...you just stop..." a rough voice told her._

  
_It made her stop what she was doing, she realized the voice was coming from the room next to her_

  
_"I would know....I've been here for a long time.."_

  
_"Really? And who are you?" she asked irritated._

  
_".....Moon..." he replied._

 

**End** **of Flashback**

  
Iris's hand tighten around the rock and then angry tears started to fall down as she winced her eyes.

  
"Iris..." a voice snapped her out her thoughts she turned to see it was Caesar.

  
"Are you alright?..." he asked.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey srry I'm late about updating you guys my son son has been sick and I've been sick so I've felt like shot for the last week and half :(...but anyways I feel better now so does my son and I would like to thank assasian Faith for giving me the Idea about hhow to subdue Onyx :)


	21. Regrets That Are Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris and Caesar fight......

"Moon?.....you mentioned his name before...he was your lover wasn't he..the one Pope killed infront of you" the man asked carefully.

  
Iris closed her making tears fall down her face while nodding in confirmation.

  
"Why did he kill him Iris?"

She opened her eyes slowly too look at him blankly while leaning herself forward.

"Because he loved me and that disgusted him...." she told him.

"Why would he be disgusted by that?"

  
"Because Moon was a Ape..." she said grimly.

The man's eyes widen in bewilderment at this information.

 

* * *

 

**Ape Village 3 years ago**

"I'm fine...just tired" she said  to him then quickly putting the rock back into her pocket when she noticed Caesar was looking at it.

"Where's Luca?..." he asked her.

  
"Aren't you suppose to know after all your the one who made him my warden..." she said bluntly to him while trying to hide her inner turmoil of what happen earlier.

Caesar huffed deeply trying to control his frustration with her, she then started to rub her sore hands to release some of the discomfort.

"Was everything alright today....was the work too hard...did anyone harass you?" he asked her trying to break the tension.

"It wasn't anything I couldn't handle" she said plainly.

"What does that mean?..." he asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

"It means just what I said"

  
The ape huffed deeply and then walked over to sit down on the log next to her, neather one turned to look at at each. Iris looked up from her hands to the fire pit that was some what away from them watching the flames dance, she then started to feel the chill so she zipped up her jacket and put her hands in her pockets for warmth and Caesar noticed this.

  
"Why are you are away from the fire?...." he asked.

  
"I don't like fire the that much...I know you didn't ccome here to make small talk...what do you want Caesar?"she said quietly but never turning her head to look at him.

  
He huffed deeply and turned to look at her.

  
"We need to talk Iris..."

She rubbed her eyes in frustration.

"Caesar now's not a good time-

"Then when?....do you really hold that much resentment towards me Iris?..." he asked clearly showing his own fustration.

This made Iris snap her head to look him.

"Me? If anyone is holding resentment it's you" she said raising her voice in irratation.

  
"What are you talking about?...."he asked her.

"Your eldest son didn't even know I existed and he didn't find out about Dad, Grandpa, or Caroline until about month ago and the only reason he found out about me is because Maurice told him" raised her voice clearly becoming angry.

  
Caesar glared at her.

  
"The past is...hard for me talk about..." he said trying to keep his calm.

  
She scoffed then glared at him.

"Are you really that ashamed that you were raised by humans, or are you afaird what others will think if they find out!" she said no longer able to keep her temper in.

  
Caesar stood up to tower in anger over her feeling his authority being threatened.

  
"I think anyone would be ashamed in being treated like a pet" he said as he glared harder at her.

By then the other apes who had been around began to stop what they where doing to pay attention what was happening between their king and the human woman. They looked at her in shock when they saw Iris instead of cowering under the kings gaze in fear like most would she slowly stood up straight emotionless and looked the ape king straight in the eyes unfaird, she being one the very few was able to do so.

"Is that what you really thought?....that you were a pet...if you did then I'm really disappointed in you.."

His glare softened at little her comment.

"Tell me Caesar... Can you honestly look me in the eye and say you don't hold a little resentment towards me just because I'm human..."

  
He looked away from her.

  
"I didn't think so..." She said queitly while her  face still voided.

He then looked back her his glare still there but not as hard as before.

"Your a cold and bitter woman..."he told he plainly.

  
"And your a prejudice asshole....when it comes to the end of the day humans and apes are ecsacly the same..." she told him bluntly then walking off past him.

Caesar didn't try to stop her and didn't even turn around to look at her, he looked to the side to see the apes that were watching quickly went back to what they where doing before, emotionally exhausted he sat down on the log.

 

When she knew she was far away from anyone in the darker part of the village she found a rock to lean against  collapsed onto the ground putting her hand over her mouth to muffle her crys she looked to the side to see her father next to her this time not bloody.

  
"Just go away..." she said weakly.

 

"He just wanted to talk Iris..." he said sadly.

She scoffed.

 

"Yea! and look how that turned out! Doesn't help that I ran into...him ethier.." she said choking up.

  
He looked at her with sad eyes.

"You both got heated and said things...your his sister sweatheart...he loves you."

"I have a hard time believing that..." she said quietly.

He just stared at her.

"You need to tell him about Onyx..." he told her seriously.

"I can't dad...it-it will just make things worse..." she quietly then resumed sobbing no longer able to keep today's events bottled in.

Blue Eyes who had walked by had noticed Iris and smiled about to call out to her but stopped his action and his smiled lowered when he noticed her state.

 

* * *

 

Caesar had come back to the royal  family's hut solemnly, Cornelia who carrying Cornelius smiled and went to embrace him which he did weakly, Cornelia notice this and pulled away to see her husband's solemn expression making her face turn to concern.

 

" _What's wrong"_ she signed to him.

He looked at her and then to his infant son who sleeping on his mother's chest, he brought his hand to head and stroked him gently.

" _Something happened today that I'm not proud of"_ he signed grimly.

 

" _What do you mean?"_ she signed confused.

 

"Mother... Father..." a voice interrupted them.

They turned to see their oldest son had come in looking a little unsure and distressed and Cornelia and Caesar noticed this right away.

  
" _Son what's wrong?"_ She signed to him.

  
"I saw Iris...She was crying..."he said softly.

  
Caesar's eyes widen at this and then he brought his head down in shame.

Cornelia looked at her husband then to her son.

" _Go to sleep we will talk about this in the morning"_ she signed him as she led him to the best.

He tried to protest but his mother promised they would talk about this tomorrow, when she came back she saw Caesar was sitting down on a rock and holding head with his hand while gritting his teeth.

  
Cornelia went over and sat down on the rock next to him.

" _What happen today?_ " she signed to him seriously.

He huffed deeply and began to tell her today's events, once he was done he looked ar Cornelia disappointed expression.

"I didn't...want it to turn out this way..but Iris is..." he huffed more deeply turned his head away from her.

"She's in pain Caesar..." Cornelia said to her husband.

He turned his head back to her.

  
"You don't have to look at her body to see it you just have to look into her eyes" she signed to him.

"She hates me..."he said depressingly.

 

Cornelia frowned at him.

 

" _She loves you just like you love her, I saw it back then and I see it now, not only that are sons have grown to love her as well"_ she signed sternly to him.

 

He brought his eyes to the sleeping Blue Eyes and then to Cornelius at her comment.

 

She then put her hand behind his head and brought his head against hers making him huff in content.

 

"Instead of talking..try listening to her" his Queen said to him.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yea it got pretty heated...I hope you guys like the chapter :)


	22. Bottled Up Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris expresses herself....

The room was silent and the only sound could be heard was the water dripping from the pipe.

"It seemed that both of you released tension that you holding onto a long time" the man finally spoke.

"I-I miss him so much...when I looked back I realized how childish our fighting was...and then later regretting what we said...we were both stubborn...I wish more then anything to have him...back" she said as her voice broke.

She looked down her bracket the brought her head back up closed her eyes making tears fall down her face.

"I miss Blue Eyes, Cornelia, Spear, Simon, Zack,Luca, Malcolm and Caroline too.." she said hoarsly as she opened her eyes to stare at the man she then closed her eyes tightly and brought her head to her legs to sob.

The man already knew what happened to Malcolm, Blue Eyes, and Cornrlia but the others he little information about.

"Do you want to take a break Iris?..." the man asked her softly.

She brought herself to sit straight up while shaking her head in response.

"No...no I'm fine" she said as she wiped her face with her hand then ran her hand trough her hair removing the hair that was sticking to her tear stained face.

"So you and Caesar eventually did reunited with Coraline, your step mother?" he asked.

She nodded.

"How did she die Iris?..."he asked carefully.

She took a deep breath and leaned forward to rest her chin on her hands and closed her eyes tightly.

"She was sick...she had cancer..." she said depressingly.

 

* * *

 

 

**Ape Village, 3 years ago**

Iris sat against that rock what seemed like forever, she began to notice the apes were lighting tourches because the sun was almost finished setting, she could feel the air becoming colder and she brought her legs up to chest to shield her from it,she brought her head against the rock and let her mind began to trail off.

 

**Flashback 10 years ago**

 

_Iris, her dad, and Caroline, arrived at the shelter finally able to act on the promise to bring Caesar home due her dad bribing the the shelter owner._

_Iris was filled with joy to able bring her brother home from this horrible place and she could tell her dad and Coraline were as well since her grandpa died 2 days ago which was affecting them all deeply, Iris noticed change in her father after they took Caesar away and even more now that her grandpa was gone, she had been trying help him cope even though she was trying to cope as well while Coraline was trying to help them both cope, being strong for both of them. Iris really admired her dad's girlfriend, Caesar and Iris never knew their mothers so Caroline was the only mother they ever knew, she didn't know how she did it after everything that has happened._

_She stood at the far end of where they kept the apes while her dad tried to convince Caesar to come out of the cage. It looked like it was working too when they saw Caesar walking closer to the door making her dad smile but then dropped when they all saw Caesar close the door on himself locking himself in._

_"Caesar..." Will whispered sadly._

_Iris looked between Caesar and her broken hearted father as she felt her own heart break , she could feel tears that were threatening fall any second._

_"I geuss he rather be with his own kind" the shelter owner Landon said to her father._

_Iris then felt a leatherly hand stroke her arm catching her off graud a little she turned to look to see it was a female ape in the cage that she standing next to , she looked at the name tag on top of the cage which read Cornelia. Iris guessed she could sense her distress and was trying to comfort her, she then began to notice that her dad and Caroline beginning to leave slowly._

_Iris could no longer keep the mixture of emotions that have plaguing her, marched over to her brother's cage and gripped it only to see Caesar's back facing her._

_"So what! Your throwing us away now! Are you trying to get back at us because you think we left you here!" she raised her voice in fustration causing everyone to turn around to look at her, the apes started to hoot in distress._

_"We tried...Caesar we tried...we never wanted to them to take you away...how could you do this after what's happened to grandpa..." she as her voice broke and tears falling down her cheeks._

_Caesar flinched at the mention of their grandfather she could feel he wanted to know what she meant by it, she brought her head to rest against the cage door and closed her eyes._

_"Grandpa's dead Ceasar...he died two days ago..." she said as she sobbed softly._

_She opened her eyes again to see that Caesar still hadn't turned around but she see him grip his hand tightly, the apes became quiet at the tension in the room._

_"Dad's been falling apart...Caroline and I been trying to help him but I'm about to fall apart too...I always had to be responsible and help take care of Grandpa and you...to be strong...but in the end I'm just a kid Caesar there's only so much I can do...I'm sorry that we failed you...I'm turely sorry" she said softly as she turned and walked away from the cage not bothering to look back, her  dad looked at her with shock and sadness, never realising how much his daughter was holding in till now._

_"Iris...sweatheart-_

_"Can we just go home...Please..." she cut him off depressingly._

_Caroline looked at her with comforting but sad eyes as she ran a hand through the 13 year old's hair and then put her hand on her shoulder and then leading her out the door with her father trailing behind them_

 

**End of Flashback**

 

She open her eyes and noticed the moon and stars where becoming more visable she just started at them in a daze they had little effect on her right now, she didn't even react as  she turned her head that wad still leaned against the rock to look at the torch that was getting closer to her even when she saw it was Luca who looked at her sternly, probably because he had been looking her for hours but his expression quickly turned to concern when he saw her red eyes and the hollow expression on her face and before he could say anything to her she got up and walked right past him to the direction of his hut on auto pilot.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys sorry I took so long I started school again so life has been hective along with hw so isn't that fun lol Xd anyways I hoped you enjoyed the chapter.


	23. Branded for Disgust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris dreams about Pope.....

 

I've been wondering Iris, I know you and had been separated from Caesar for 10 years but when was the last time you actually saw him, I know it wasn't at the shelter" he asked her curiously.

 

Iris was holding her head in her hand sideways as she was bent over in the chair.

 

"No... It wasn't... I saw him two more times after that...the second was when he snuck out of the shelter and back into the house in the middle of the night to take the ALZ-113 canisters and I caught him...but I thought I was hallucinating it at the time..."

 

 

"And why did you think that Iris?" the man asked.

 

 

She sighed leaned back in the chair.

 

 

"Because I got into my dad's liquor and became a little drunk...also because I heard him speak my name... I don't really remember cause I passed out there and somehow woke up the next morning tucked in my bed with a major hang over even though I had no memory of going back to my room...most likely he's the one who carried me to it..." she said bluntly.

 

 

The man looks a little taken back by this information and Iris noticed it.

 

 

" Hey it's not the worse thing I've done...and you already know I've done a lot of shit..." she said bluntly.

 

 

"You got your self drunk when you were only 13....." he said quietly.

 

 

" I was also trained to fight and use a gun to kill the infected and apes at 14....like I said not the worse thing that I've done or that's happened to me...A lot had happened during that time I was depressed..." she told him plainly.

 

 

The man looked at her grimly.

 

 

"And the last time you saw him...." he asked.

 

 

"It was the day he led the apes to freedom my dad and I followed him to the woods....I-I was never scared of him before...but seeing as he was on that day on the bridge 13 years ago....he truly frightened me..." she said softly.

 

* * *

 

**Ape Village, 3 years ago**

 

 

**Nightmare**

 

_Iris laid on the frosted stone ground in terrible pain, the cold making it even more unbearable, She could feel blood drip down her chin as she looked up at the sky, her hair was dry and chocked she almost looked as a frozen statue coming to life as her breath was ragged and rattling. She could feel blood drip down her chin  as she looked up at the sky_

 

_Her moment of peace didn't last long cause a  large wooden spear came crashing down to hit her hard on her side._

 

_She fell with a cry as she buckled and collapsed gritting her teeth as she seethed through the pain._

 

_She looked over to her side to see Onyx smirking at her with a club to his side, She could tell Onyx was enjoying her pain she turned her head weakly over to see Moon in one the cages at the zoo watching her with his eyes filled heartache while he hooted in distress at her pain along knowing he couldn't do anything to stop it._

 

 

_"You disgust me...." he growled under his breath"You corrupted...ape...make... he betray...his own kind" he growled louder as he cracked the spear down harder. Iris could see Onyx smile get bigger and saw something in his eyes as she stared at her, she didn't like it one bit._

 

 

_Onyx slammed the club down on her palm as she screamed hoarsely as fresh blood oozed out of her hand, causing Onyx to smiled wide before he could raise his club again a gorilla by his side grabbed it roughly, his muscles underneath his fur bulged._

 

 

_"The captain wants her alive" he signed and as he roared at Onyx gripping his club tight._

 

 

_Iris but her lip holding back her screams of pain while closing her eyes tight, when she reopened her eyes she saw Pope still scowling at her if the horrible scars on his face didn't make him frightening enough his hateful glare on his face it even more so. Moon started to bang on the cage along with hooting loudly and growling in rage, his sending promises of deep pain to one hurting the girl she loved._

 

 

_"She will...live" Onyx chuckled as he kicked her in her bruised hip._

 

 

_Pope scowled as he gripped Iris's hair and yanked her head violently to look at him, her hazel eyes tried to keep focus as she stared into his golden green ones. She seethed through pain as she was forced to look at him._

 

 

_"What!" she snapped weakly._

 

 

_"Do you...actually think...ape or human...will accept...what you and he has..." he growled under his breath his comment making turn her eyes to Moon._

 

 

_She stared emotionally at him making her heart leap, as she glared straight at Onyx and Pope._

 

 

_"Screw you" she coughed._

 

 

_He huffed in disgust._

 

 

_"Unlike Moon...I rather burn myself alive then do that..." he spat at her._

 

 

_Iris chuckled "I hope....it's a slow way to die from what I heard and from my own experience," She said as she gestured with her eyes to her arm with the burn scar._

 

 

_He growled at her then throwing her head to the ground making her grunt, he then signaled for one the apes to bring over something she saw it was an iron bar and it was being brought over by the female ape Cora who looked reluctant to do so when Iris got a better look at she could why it burning red at the tip of it._

 

 

_Iris spat some blood out her mouth as the red droplets painted the ground Onyx hooted in sadistic laughter seeing her in pain. Cora looked at Pope fearfully and looked at Iris with pity._

 

 

_"Pope please, isn't this going too far" She signed to her captain._

 

 

_Pope growled and towered over Cora, showing dominance to her for questioning his authority and making her cower in fear._

 

 

_"I'm sorry to forgive me Pope" she signed in fear as she secretly felt sympathy for the young girl._

 

 

 

_Iris felt bad for her, she knew the female ape did not like humans but she wasn't malicious, she was the only ape here that tried to treat her decently. Moon looked at the burning iron bar in horror and even more so when he saw Pope get closer to Iris with it._

 

 

_"I'm sorry" Cora signed weakly to Iris turning her head away from the torture._

 

 

_Iris looked up to see the iron poker coming her way her eyes became wide as quarter's as she tried to scramble away but Onyx took ahold of her._

 

_"You're not going...anywhere you'rere.you're going...to feel...what it's like...to be...branded" he said as he grinned wide, sneaking a small sniff in her hair and neck making Moon roar at him._

 

 

_"POPE!!..I KILL YOU IF!...YOU TOUCH HER WITH IT!...." Moon screamed at him enraged._

 

 

 

_She struggled hard but Onyx's hold was too strong, so could she couldn't do anything to stop Pope from pulling up her shirt and bringing the burning metal to scorch her flesh, she arched her back and bit her lip holding back her excruciating pain as her branded her stomach, Moon roared and screeched in extreme rage as he banged on the bars._

 

 

**End of Nightmare**

 

 

Luca was awoken by another one of Iris's nightmares, while he was getting use to them this one was different because she was tossing violently and was very vocal.

 

 

Luca quickly went over to her and tried to shake her awake but it wasn't working.

 

 

"No!....Pope!..." he heard her spit out making his face frozen with shock to hear this name, an ape that was long since dead and was taboo to talk about but what made him shocked the most was Iris was dreaming about him. He didn't even notice how violent Iris was becoming in her struggles until she punched him the face hard, catching him off guard.

 

 

He rubbed his face in surprise she got a good hit out of him, he then took both of her shoulders and shook her a little harder.

 

 

"Iris!....IRIS!" Luca said gruffly not use to speaking but it did the trick and woke her up.

 

 

Iris woke up in a hot sweat her while breathing hard, her eyes filled with fear and confusion as she stared at the Gorilla's that held seriousness and concern, she looked around to see she wasn't at the zoo but in Luca's hut. Luca released his hold on her once she started to calm down.

 

 

Iris then looked down at her stomach and slowly pulled up her shirt but not all the way to look under surprising Luca but when he got a glimpse at what she was looking at he became appalled at what he saw it was words that where craved onto her stomach sloppily that shook him to his core.

 

 

BAD HUMAN

 

 

Luca felt a deep anger for the dead traitorous ape realizing he was the cause it, they met each other's eyes tears threatening to fall from here was even more shocked when Iris who was known as a cold woman wrapped her arms around tightly around him.

 

 

"Please...Please don't tell him.." she softly sobbed as she pleaded with him.

 

 

Luca slowly wrapped arms around her slim form trying to comfort her, but even though she pleaded with him not o tell he knew he couldn't keep this from his king.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yea this chapter saw a little of Iris's past with Pope and Onyx and it wasn't pretty... I like to thank my good friend Marian_of_Cintra for helping me write this chapter I love her :D you check out pota Heroine of the planet of the apes it's really good :) well I hope you enjoyed the chapter let me know :)


	24. Darkness Rises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris lets something out...

The man looked at Iris disturbed at what she just told him about part her past with Pope and Iris just looked him emotionless.

 

"Can you tell me more Iris if... your ready to keep going" he spoke calmly not wanting to spark Iris's ire.

 

Iris looked at the man and slowly brought up her white shirt, the man could cleary see she was no longer ashamed for anyone to see the scars on her body, that or she just didn't care anymore. He then could see them clear as day they where more faded now but still noticeable.

 

Did he do this?..." He pointed at her faded scars, her eyes told him everything he needed to know.

 

She then stood up which scared him a little thinking she was going to attack him again but what she did next surprised him, she took off her shirt and turned so her could look at her back and what he saw made his eyes widen in shock, her back was covered in scars from whip marks, slashes, including bullet scars near her left upper shoulder and one near her her lower side of her waist.

 

You ask why don't I hate the apes...it because humans have brutalized much more then them" she said softy as she turn around slowly to face him.

 

Jesus" he gasped still shocked seeing everything damaging on her skin her scar's told a story of their own, and each we're not gentle.

 

"I'm almost surprised your still alive" he said under his breath.

 

She chuckled softly " believe me I use to wonder that too...and it's not like haven't tried to end my life...but like you said...I'm not exactly human anymore..." she said grimly.

 

The Man could honestly say that her front looked better than her back and it had gastly scars too.

 

"And yet your alive, breathing, and existing.. sometimes we can thankful for that..."

 

"Some wouldn't want to be alive after going through what I've been through..." she said quietly with a hollow expression.

 

"It still interests me to this day about what makes you not exactly human"

 

He said to her.

 

"You could blame the flu for that..." she said quietly.

 

* * *

 

**Ape Village , 3 years ago**

 

 

Iris was quickly walking over to the hut of the Oba's, after her nightmare she was afaird to go back to sleep so she patiently waited for dawn but that also meant she had to sit in awkward silence with Luca while she did, how else would someone react after punching someone and then hugging them while crying, not to mention she exposed part of her scars to him made any better.

 

When Luca had gone back to sleep she had snuck out in hurry, mostly because she felt guilty for she did the gorilla, the other reasons was cause she really needed Rose Root. These emotions were getting out of hand they're overwhelmed like drowning and yet they die down like a tide, sometimes it felt better to just not feel much and yet feel something.

 

She hadn't used Rose Root in almost week and recent events made her need it more then ever, she hoped to find some far from the village hopefully, but results would be like a needle in a haystack.

 

Iris stopped to look around and huffed in frustration as she ran her hand through her somewhat beaded hair.

 

"Fuck's sake there has to be more there's got be" she sighed as she surveyed the area around herself.

 

She knew her anxiety was rising she closed her eyes and took deep breaths trying to calm her self down, she finally spot sight of the hut after looking around fanatically and then sped off to that derection.

 

"Please let there be some" she thought.

 

When she got the entrance she could see the Oba's mending the herbs, tending to some apes, or some just getting ready for the day, everybody stopped what they where doing when they saw her coming in all eyes turned to her.

 

"Can I have some Rose Root?... please" she asked the Oba's.

 

The oba's looked at each other confused at her request it didn't help they felt nervous and uncomfortable that the woman was in here in the frist place. One Oba did come up to her, she was a grey chimp with a white mask.

 

" _What do you mean by Rose Root?"_ she signed to her a little confused.

 

"I need some Rose Root now!" she snapped, her patience was running as she looked at the grey Oba.

 

The chimp backed up a little and hooted in distress at this and Iris saw this making her feel a little guilty she closed her eyes sighed deeply as she rubbed them.

 

 _"I'm sorry...it just I really need it"_ Iris signed to the Oba apologelically. " _I didn't mean to scare you..."_ she signed trying to reassure the female ape.

 

The Oba relaxed a little at this but was still unsure.

 

" _What are you looking for?"_ she signed back to her, her nature to help over coming her nervousness.

 

"Rose root" Iris said trying her best to explain, she then grabbed a stick and started to draw in the dirt.

 

The apes in the hut all looked at it curiously but not too near do to their nervousness around the woman. After she finished Iris showed it the Oba so she could get better look at along with telling what color it was.

 

The grey female ape looked at the design in the dirt and then back to her. " _I'm sorry we don't have this"_ she signed to her apologetically.

 

" _Do you know any that grows around this place?_ she signed, the anxiety was drowning her brain and it's becoming underwhelming.

 

The Oba shook her head _"I'm sorry...we have never used this before"_ she signed to her.

 

Iris took deep breaths, the Obas that were once nervous of her were becoming a little concern for her condition now.

 

" _Why do you need it?...is there something wrong?_..." the Oba signed to her with her green eyes full of concern.

 

Iris held her head and closed her eyes as the pain in her head was becoming intense.

 

"Ok...ok thank you...-

 

"Tinker..." The female spoke, her telling her name.

 

"Thank you...Tinker...really...thank you..." She said honestly but weakly to the female, she then turned around and sped off out of the hut, she didn't even hear Tinker hoot in protest or see someone outside the hut greet her.

 

Her head was pounding like church bells she must find the Rose Root soon or the pounding will get worst. She didn't notice that someone was trying to catch up to her because of the pounding of her heart was so loud. She heard rustling of tree branches and pine needles falling on the ground like snow, Iris saw the branches creaked as if someone's weight was pressing on them. The noise then left the trees and branches with a thump on the ground making Iris flinch and spin around from the the vibrations from the ground, Panic filled her eyes as she turned only to face Cornelia.

 

Cornelia! What are you doing here?" Iris asked the queen as she held a hand over her heart.

 

 _"I saw you run out of the hut, did something happen Iris?_ " Cornelia signed in concern.

 

Iris closed her eyes and ran a hand through her hair while trying to control her breathing, she realized she since the herb wasn't in the village she was going to need go outside the village but she would have to get Caesar's permission and she needed to do it now because she could feel a incoming panic attack about happen.

 

"Cornelia I must.. ask you and your husband's permission.. to go outside of the village.. I promise... I will be back" Iris managed to plead to the queen.

 

Cornelia's green eys looked at her seriously and with concern at her request knowing her sister-in-law couldn't leave right now not with the recent events, she was even more surprised to her like this when she was usually emotionally withdrawn and calm woman.

 

"I beg of you...to do this...p-please" she continued to plead.

 

Cornelia looked at the young woman with deep worry as she trembled and held her chest, Iris felt like she could hardly breath and could feel her heart pounding hard against her hand. Iris could feel her senses heightening tenfold all the smallest noises and smells made her state much worse making her hold her head in pain, her vision started to get tunneled as her knees gave in from weakness causing her to collapse.

 

She could barely hear Cornelia hooting in distress over the ringing and her racing heart, Cornelia quickly came to her side speaking words but it only fell on her temporary deaf ears. She could then feel the female ape bringing her close to her chest to hold her, trying to her best to give her comfort.

 

Iris's eyes flashed seeing images burning into her eyes, some of them looked like apes another made a shape of a woman who she could feel was checking th pulse on her neck and along with her breathing.

 

"Iris! I need you to count back from 10! Do you understand me!?" the woman told her seriously.

 

Iris winced her eyes nodded weakly, not able to stand the light anymore.

 

"1-10..." She struggled to say but managed to spit out"9...8...7" she could feel her trembling decreasing and her racing heart slowing down as she countined to count along from Cornelia hooting softly to her as she held her closer, feeling the queens heart beat gave her a somewhat calm.

 

"6...5...4.." She realized it was becoming easier to speak now and her breathing returned so what normal.

 

"3...2...1..."she breathed easier as her heart rate was steadily beating normal.

 

She opened her eyes to see Ellie looking at her with panic and concern along with Malcolm, Luca, Cornelia, Blue Eyes, a grey chimp and Caesar who looked the most worried out all of them, Iris lifted up her head to look at Cornelia who smiled in relief as the young woman slowly sat herself up disoriented.

 

Someone gently took her arm and guided her to sit on a log which she didn't protest due her being lost in her own thoughts, she may have been calm now but no way she was back to normal yet if anyone would call her normal general.

 

She could hear couple of the individuals around trying to get her attention but it was like she was on a another planet as she kept her head lowered staring at the dirt, she felt someone stroke her arm with their finger and hoot in concern for her she had a strong feeling it was Blue Eyes, she slowly brought her hand to touch the hand that was stroking her arm and gently rubbed her thumb across their hand trying weakly to reassure them while never moving her head.

 

She then felt a rough leatherly hand firmly but gently grab her by the chin and brought her head up to see Ceasar who looked at her with worried eyes.

 

"Iris...what happen to you..?" he asked her softly.

 

She just stared at him with dead broken eyes with tears falling down her checks while never blinking, it shook Caesar to see her this way he knew what Malcolm told him about her going to a dark place and shutting herself away but he didn't realize how horrible it was until he looked into her eyes just that moment.

 

Caesar looked at her solemnly and let go of her face, Iris just stared back at the ground not processing anything that was happening around her, she could hear some talking for a little but didn't make it out and after awhile they all left leaving her alone.

 

She sat on the log what seemed like forever, not knowing just how much had padt. She was snapped out of her daze when she heard a loud screech she got up and walked over slowly to where it had come from.

 

She walked down the path and to ledge her eyes widen in horror to see that wolves where in the village and where attacking the apes, Iris felt her blood pump as she watched the scene in front of her, apes where screeching and running away while others where defending the village and occupants, it made her flashback to things she didn't want to remember.

 

_Merciless killings_

 

_Blood everywhere_

 

_Bodies laying everywhere_

 

Her eyes caught sight of a bow and arrows at the bottom with out gaving our having to think about it twice she slid down the ledge and ran over to grab it. When she got to the bottom she saw just how bad the chaos was, there was blood and bodies laying about along with apes badly injured.

 

She saw a wolf trying to tear its jaws into apes neck but could do being blocked by a spear, the ape growled and screech as he struggled against the wolf, the spear then failed after a couple of bites from the canine making it split in half and the wolf got ready for the kill and as the Ape screeched louder Iris quickly reacted and aimed and shot it in the side right in the heart, which made it fall to the ground dead. They apes that where near looked at her bewilderd Inculding the one who was about to be ripped to shreds. Iris had a dark look in her eyes, something dark had come out, something she had buried deep inside her a long time ago.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is the newest chapter and wow it seems like Iris has a other side to her and it seems dangerous, I wanted to write more but I couldn't come up with anything else so srry guysby Brian almost fried trying lolXD but this one of the longest chapters I've ever did so yay!:D I would like to thank Littlexblue for making me my new cover which it amazing ^^ up you should check out her pota story The Simian Forest, I would to thank Marian of cintra for helping me with this chapter she's awsome :D you check out her story Heroine of the planet of the apes and I would like to thank Lmere who always help me with my chapters ^^


	25. Let the Monster Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris's darkside awakes....

Tension started to rise in the room the man was either unsure or was afraid to ask his question. Iris's eyes look like they were trailing off into their own little world blocking everything else out.

 

 

"Did you have these... blackouts a lot Iris he asked her carefully.

 

Iris didn't respond, trapped in her own little daze.

 

" Iris?..."the man asked again.

 

Iris brought her gaze to look at the man with the dead eyes, she then tilted her head back a little and raised a eyebrow.

 

" Do you really want to know?....because during those times apparently I was frightening... Some called me a monster...others called me a savior... " she asked him bluntly.

 

The man looked at her a little unsure and maybe a little afaird at what she would tell him.

 

" But after everything I've done... I think it's appropriate to call me a monster...." she said quietly as she turned to scar on her arm that looked newer then the rest, that looked like from the teeth from a canine.

 

* * *

 

 

**Ape Village, 3 years ago**

 

Iris quickly went over to the ape who was almost ripped apart by the now dead wolf, when she got close she recognized him to be Spear who was looking at her with incomprehension as she bent down  to check if the wolf was really dead, when she realized it was she yanked the arrow out roughly and turned to look at the male ape.

 

"You alright" she signed to him.

 

Spear looked at her eyes in shock to see that they were completely dilated, you couldn't even see her iris.

 

He nodded to her nervously, the dilated pupils wasn't the only thing that scares him about her eyes right now, it was also the dark intent along with it he along with the other apes around them could feel the intention radiating off her, it scared them greatly. 

 

Satisfied by this Iris sped off towards the rocky path but not before taking off her jacket knowing it would be harder to move with it, and placing it on a random rock. She could feel her blood pumping and could hear her heart pounding in her ears but unlike earlier this time it was for survival and adrenaline while feeling the cold foggy air bite at her skin as she moved.

 

Iris gripped the bow and the arrows tightly  while her face remain calm but deep inside she was anything but, see could see and hear apes screeching and fighting. She made out 3 wolves running around, growling and trying to bite the apes who where trying to hold them off, she saw wolves ethier stabbed with spears or daggers, had arrows sticking out of them or were just plain beaten, laying dead on the rocky ground along with dead apes laying in pools of blood from bite wounds, she bolted into action while aiming as she ran then taking a shot striking the wolf down and killing it.

 

She sped over and pulled the arrow out of the wolf only to realize that the arrow head had broken off inside it and making her curse but didn't have much time to dewell in it when she heard a screech from a ape who pointed, warning her  to look behind to see a charging wolf.She quickly rolled out the way scraping her exposed skin, the wolf then charged at her again but she she quickly pulled a dagger out of one the dead wolves and pounced on it, slammed it to the ground and started  to stab into the animal repeatedly while she screamed, feeling the blood splatter on her skin while she could hear and feel her heart pound out of her chest, she plunged the knife for one final time before yanking it out.

 

She panted hard trying to catch her breath and slowly got off the wolf, she held her heart feeling it race as she looked around to see all the bodies of apes mangled and covered in blood across the rocky terran, the blood coated like a layer of paint with looks of horror molded on some of the dead faces. She could see apes injured and whimpering in pain while others tried to help them but most where grieving over the dead, she looked at the scene in front of her with great sorrow.

 

Iris then noticed most had their eyes on her, staring at her with a mixture of fear and astonishment. Their gazes made her turn eyes away from them as she slowly got up, she seen the way were looking at her before and frankly she didn't blame them. 

 

She was about to ran her hand through her tangled sweaty hair when she saw  her hand drenched with blood in fact both of them where drenched in blood. She stated at them wide with horror, she started to panic a little.

 

"Iris..." a gruff voice called out to her making her flinch and slowly turn towards  behind to see a chimpanzee with brown fur who was injured and holding himself up with his spear.

 

She saw the ape look at her with shock to actually to see her at all and she realized why, she knew this ape from long ago making her looked at him with equal shock. While her face looked indescribable what she what she felt inside began felt like a deep boiling rage at the mere sight of this male along with a deep horrible memories of grief going down the pit of her stomach making both emotions mixed together, she felt her hands shake in anger and sadness tighten so tight till her nails started to dig in her skin and made her bleed, mixing her blood with the one already on her hands.

 

The chimp noticed her state and what appeared what she was she thought was a look of shame and guilt on his face along with what she thought was a hint a worry.

 

"Fifer..." She said deathly quiet.

 

The two just stared at each other not speaking the male obviously because he didn't how to talk to het and Iris because her conflicting emotions made her not able form words to how she was feeling right then. Iris no longer felt The chill of the morning crisp air but now felt heat riadiating off herself she seethed. The apes could sense the tension and the spiral of emotions coming from the human woman and from one of their own, they didn't dare make a sound in fear what would happen after what they saw what the woman did earlier, afaird of her wrath while wondering what did the the male do that made her so angry. But before anyone could say anything they  began to hear more screeching and loud growls, Iris and the apes snapped their heads to where the noises was coming from they realized in horror it was coming from the school.

 

" _THE CHILDERN!!"_ one ape signed in aggressively in panic.

 

Iris's face became white as a ghost at with a overwhelming feeling of dread at this ape's remark.

 

" _Take the injured to the healing hut!"_ she signed to the apes around her aggressively.

 

Some hooted in protest and in anger that they where being ordered around by a human woman  but one look from Iris shut them up right away.

 

" _None of you are in any condition to help, you won't be any good to them if your dead"_ she signed to them blurtly while her eyes held a deadly serious look to them.

 

" Do you want your families to bury you, like these apes families will have to do for them!" she yelled angrily as she gestured to the dead.

 

 

 

The apes looked at her taken back by her out burst but they did as she suggested and looked around to the deceased fellows apes making their expressions turn to grim.

 

" _Help the others who need it right here...make it so that  they and you can see your families again tomorrow and onwards...."_ she signed to them with soft eyes not before rushing off where the school was.

 

She took one more glance behind her to look at Fifer who turned his face away from her in shame, with that she turned her head back to the front and dissapered from the sight from  the sight of the apes that area.

 

Iris moved quickly but sneakly as she rushed down the rocky path clutching the dagger tightly in her hand and holding it closer to her side, she saw apes running towards different directions screeching, hooting, growling, it was chaos. She blocked eberyone out as She made her way though her steps were soft against the dirt as she stalked towards her destination, she could feel her adrenaline and blood strongly, she was like a predator trying to find it's prey, as she stalked she noticed a female Bonobo holding her baby tightly to her chest in fear.

 

Iris looked at her with solemn eyes and cafefully went over to her and gentle touched her arm, which made her flinch and stare at the woman fear filled eyes which turned to surprise once she saw it was her.

 

 

 

_"Go to the healing hut, they are gathering up the wounded there_ " Iris signed to her.

 

The female looked at her a little unsure and then turned her head to the direction of the school in fear. 

 

"The rest are near the school aren't they?..." she asked her.

 

The female turned her head back and nodded to her to her confirming suspicions. Iris looked at the direction and back to the female.

 

 

 

" _Go to the hut I'm going to go help"_ she said to the female, the mother Bonobo just looked at her complete shock but couldn't really protest cause Iris pushed her along making her reluctantly go where  Iris told her to while went in the direction of where the remaining wolves where more like ran.

 

 

 She watched apes trying to fight off wolves,Jaws snapping and teeth bared o  both sides. In all the years she's lived In this woods she has never seen a pack this big before it scared her to think just how many where in the village right now, or worse is if they had found Blue Eyes, Cornelius, Cornelia, Ellie, or Caesar. This made run quicker while she knew the king was more then capable to take care of himself she couldn't help but worry.

 

 

She she saw the rocky wall that held the rules along drawings for teaching she knew was in the right place but what she saw brought what she greatly feared to life, Blue Eyes with one other ape where facing a wolf while Maurice tried his best to shield the childern from the canine. The wolf growled and snapped it's jaw at the apes which made the blue eyed ape return the favor the wolf then charged at at the other ape with the prince taring his throat as he screeched in pain until he became quiet. The wolf then got off the but it ears then perked up and turned it's head to see a baby orangutan has fallen down from the rocky ledge that the childern and their teacher where standing on away from the wolf,Maurice looked in horror as the wolf began to stalk towards the young one but Iris made sure that would never happen when she threw her dagger hard hitting the wolf in the side. 

 

 

The wolf howled in pain as he stumbled. Blue Eyes looked at the wolf in shock and then turned to see Iris coming towards him. She gestured for Maurice who was staring at her in surprise to grab the child now while the animal was still distacted the older ape made no protest as he hooted softly to the child as he reached his arm and help the child up back on the ledge while his eyes looked at the woman in concern at what she was going to do.

 

 

Iris ran over to Blue Eyes when she saw the wolf has a new target now that the baby ape was, it was the Prince making the childern and Maurice hoot in distress. The wolf Evan though injured charged at the young ape catching him off guard he tired using his spear to block the wolf but the animal grabbed it with its jaws and ripped it out the ape's hands making the him state at the wolf wide eyed.

 

 

But before the wolf could sink it's jaws into him like he did to the other ape the animal was tackled to the ground violently by Iris. She wrestled with the canine as he struggled and snapped at trying to get out her grip but Iris never have in knowing what happen if she did. She grunted as she wrapped her arm around the wolf's neck as her legs around its body trying to restrain it but proved very difficult as the wolf continued to struggle even though it was injured it kept repeating it's attempt to trash the human off but is lowered them to the ground with Iris laying on her side but holding tightly to the wolf.

 

 

She didn't notice the looks astonishment from the around her. Trying one last tempt to get her off the wolf snuck it's it muzzle under the arm holding it's neck sunk it's teeth deeply into her skin causing her to cry out in pain, She could hear Blue Eyes hallor in distress and tried to pull the wolf off her and to shoved away hard my the thrashing wolf. Iris kept her grip onthe wolf as it kept diving it's jaws into her arm but didn't losen as gritted her teeth through the pain and just a loud shot was heard shocking everyone there and the next thing Iris knew the animal's jaw was realising her arm and it's body fell slack on top of her.

 

 

 Iris shoved the wolf off her quickly, and sat up while panting to see the wolf was dead, from a bullet. Her gaze quickly left the now dead animal to the direction to were the bullet came from only to look in complete shock to see Zack just 5 feet away from them holding pitsol looking at her with panic and then relief, Iris decided to deal with him later and she quickly turned around and crawled over the one individual the worried about the most right now.

 

 

Blue Eyes looked at her sitting in the ground against a rock still in shock while panting. When she got close to him she cradled his face in both her hands and looked at him with eyes full of worry.

 

 

"Are you aright?...Are you aright?.." she asked him weakly.

 

 

He nodded as he looked at the dead animal and then back to her, Iris felt tears of relief talk down her face as she closed her eyes. She brought herself up to kiss his forehead which bewilderd him a little  she then pulled away only for him to put his hand behind her neck brought her head to rest against his making her sigh in content, Iris pulled her head away to wrap her arms him causing him to do the same to her. She stuck her head in his shoulder feeling his fur against her face, enjoying the the sense of closeness but her vision began to become blurry and her embrace with the prince began to sag she could taint sounds of screeching, she then saw darkness.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was a really long chapter for me I'm sorry I took so long to update I had School then I got food poisoning but anyways I'm better now so I can start writing again :) I would also like to tell guys I uploaded a new story called Childern of the woods feel free to check it out and I hope you like this chapter ^^


	26. Pieces of the Past Revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue learns a few things...

Iris looked at the scar at her wrist as she lightly caressed in remembrance.

 

"This ape that made you so angry...Fifer? How did you know him?" the man asked.

 

Iris brought her eyes up to look at the man then brought them to look to the side as she huffed deeply.

 

"Fifer was a follower of Pope...he held into me as...Pope killed Moon right in front of me..." she said emotionlessly as a lone tear fell down her check.

 

* * *

 

**Ape village, 3 years ago**

 

Iris's face and hair was damp with sweat, the wolf's blood that splattered on her skin had been washed off but she still had it on her clothes which meant she would have to get some new ones. 

 

She held her her head in her hand with her knee up against her check as she looked at the ground replaying today's events in her head in a state of shock. She heard a grunt for her attention causing her to look up to see Blue Eyes looking at her with worry and to Tinker the Oba who she had talked to earlier that day who was now putting on some sort of moss on the wound she got from the wolf right after she finished cleaning it 

 

while the other Obas tended to the wounded in the village. She remembered the Prince helped rush her over to the healing hut while Maurice led the childern away to a safe place, She winced at little in pain from the tending to her arm from the female making Tinker sign in apologies, she could also see the young male had been staring at her now visable scars with horror and questions and she had a good geuss it was mostly for the ones on her neck and her collarbone, she even caught the female looking at them a few times.

 

" _Is it true_?" he asked.

 

"It what true?..." she asked quietly.

 

" _That Pope hurt you?.._." he signed to her grimly.

 

This made Tinker stop what she was doing and look at the Prince in shock and then back to the young woman to see if she confirm it. Iris looked taken back for a second but then closed her eyes and sighed deeply, she had no doubt that Luca had told him and and highly likely his father which meant that he was going to confront her about as soon as her found her and she was going to dread it. She ran her hand through her hair which was starting to sticking to her face with her free hand and then reopened her eyes to look at her nephew.

 

"What do you know about him?..." she asked him queitly.

 

Tinker started to feel tense as she wrapped animal skin arround the moss on her arm, Blue looked at the female ape and then back to the young woman he was very young when the incident with Pope happen so he didn't know that much only from the stories heard.

 

" _Only that he was a traitor who was cruel and killed apes and wanted to over throw father"_ he signed plainly.

 

" That isn't the whole story...he was much much worse then Koba..." she told him plainly.

 

Blue Eyes started to tense up at this so did Tinker.

 

"Pope thought your father was weak and didn't deserve to be you ruler and this was long before the humans discovered the apes in the woods....he was very brutal and very evil...even to his own kind... He pushed them none stop and punished failure horriblely...there were this primative apes....apes that hadn't gain intelligence like your parents and the adults here...he didn't considered them apes...so..he wanted to enslave them" she said as she brought her hand to touch the scar on her neck and brought her hand to her stomach.

 

Blue could feel his hands tighten at this information.

 

"He despised humans and tried to enslave few of them as well...I was one of the few he captured...one of his followers Cora knew what he was doing was wrong tried to go and warn your father but not before trying to help me escape...but she was caught...Pope totured her by placing her in freezing cold water then letting a polar bear tare her apart" she said depressingly.

 

Tinker and Blue Eyes looked at her in horror at this information, the male brought his hand up to touch his scars from his own bear encounter, remembering the pain and fear he felt and what Pope did the female ape, the apes he enslaved, and what he planned to do his father, the very same ape who fought for their freedom it made him boil in rage inside.

 

" _Did he give you those.._.." he struggled to sign as he gestured to the scars on her neck and collarbone making her reach up and touch her neck.

 

She shook her head.

 

"This was done by one of his followers...what h-he" she tried not to choke up" What Pope did to me was much worse then what he did.." she said.

 

Blue Eyes didn't know how that could be possible as continued to look at her scars, he had more questions but didn't want his aunt to relive trauma not after everything she had been through today his eyes then followed to the fresh wound on her arm.

 

Iris followed his gaze then looked back at him with soft eyes.  She  reached out her free hand to gentle being his face back to look at her.

 

" I'm alright" she signed trying to reassure him.

 

He looked at her at grimly and with shame.

 

"If...the...human..didn't..come...with.gun... You would..have died...I couldn't...do anything..." he struggled to say.

 

She frowned at his comment.

 

"You where very brave Blue...sometimes it's our greatest strength...you fought hard" she told him seriously.

 

He brought his gaze back to her arm making him close his eyes tightly and then open them to look back at her.

 

 _"But in the end I couldn't do anything, just like I couldn't do anything for Ash"_ he signed to her in frustration.

 

Iris raised her eyebrow in confusion at this while Tinker flinched at the name he mentioned and then walking over to the other side of the hut making the young woman noticed this causing  her to look between the male and female, a uncomfortable tension started to fill the hut.

 

"Blue who's-

 

She didn't get to finish because Cornelia came bursting into the hut looking frantic and once she saw her son she rushed over to him and hugged him tightly which he happily returned.

 

"I was...so scared..." she said put her face into his fur.

 

Cornelia then pulled away to touch her forehead with his making him huff in content, she then pulled away from her son to turned to face Iris to give  her a greatful smile and then hugged her tightly but careful no to touch her injured arm bewildering the young woman but hugged her back weakly she was even more caught off graud when the queen brought her forehead to rest against hers. The female ape then pulled away to give her a warm grateful smile.

 

"Thank you..." she said her.

 

She nodded emotionlessly in response, knowing Maurice obviously told her what happened. 

 

The queen's gaze trailed to her injured arm causing her to look at her in worry.

 

"It's not that bad..." Iris tried to reassure her.

 

The Queen didn't look convinced as she turned to look at the Oba for confirmation.

 

" _She just can't put to much strain on it"_ Tinker signed to the queen.

 

Iris watched The Queen and the Oba sign with each other and a few times to the prince. She started to feel uncomfortable for being in the hut for so long so she got up and started to head for the exit. 

 

"Iris...where are...you going?"Cornelia asked her.

 

Iris stopped for second but didn't turn around to face, she could feel all eyes on her.

 

"I need air" she said curtly as she went out of the hut faintly hearing their protests.

 

She walked around the village seeing all the damage the wolves caused, injured apes where being tended to by Obas, the dead where being carried away by their grieving family members and friends, the dead wolves where being dragged to a different location, and both ape and wolves blood coated the rocky floor. 

 

She could hear crying and could smell the strong scent of blood as she walked over a fire pit and sat down on while she held head in sorrow.

 

She then felt a hand on her shoulder and he reflexes act making her spin around to punch who ever was but only to be caught by a smiling Bonobo with speckle eyes, her eyes widen in disbelief.

 

"I see you...haven't changed Iris" he said

 

 

 

She smiled brightly at him.

 

 

 

"Zane!" She said as she hugged him right away which he gadly returned as he hooted joyfully.

 

She then pulled away so he could sit down next to her on the log.

 

"It's been a long...time" he said.

 

"5 years...How have you been?" she asked weakly.

 

"Good...I'm married now...with a daughter..." he said with a proud smile. 

 

 

 

This surprised her but made her smile.

 

"Congratulations" she said.

 

"I would like...you to meet them..." he told her as he put a hand on her shoulder.

 

Before she could respond they heard a loud huff causing both of them to turn to see Luca looking at Iris very irritatedly and she knew he has a very good reason to be it, she then turned her head back to Zane.

 

"I'll meet you by the waterfall later" She told him quietly.

 

Zane looked between her and The leader of The Gorilla Guard, having a very good idea of what was going to happen. He nodded and got up from the log and walked past the gorilla while keeping his gaze submissive in respect. Luca watched him leave and then turned his gaze back to the young woman, she could tell he had questions about Zane and her as he walked over to her. Iris then brought herself to her knee and brought her hand out submissively and brought her eyes to the ground which bemused him completely as he looked at her hand.

 

"I'm sorry...for all the trouble I've caused you..." she said softly.

 

He was surprised to see this out of the very stubborn woman, he then huffed deeply and swiped his leathery hand across hers, the burn mark scar on her arm caught his attention as pulled herself up to look at him.

 

" _That scar where did you get it? "_ he signed as he pointed to it.

 

Iris looked at him confused then bought her arm up to look at what he was talking about, when she saw it she realized what he was talking about and brought her head back to look at Luca.

 

"You know the fire that happened in the woods 9 years ago, I was right in middle of it, I got this from a tree..." she said plainly as her mind began to trail off.

 

The Gorilla looked at her in complete shock at this information.

 

" _Could you-_

 

But he never got to finish what he was about to sign a new commer had appeared, it was his king with the same grey ape from before which Iris now regonized as Rocket. She could see Caesar's hands tremble and his eyes filled  with a mixture of rage and hurt, right now he scared her.

 

He he made his way over to her ignoring Luca.

 

"Show me..." he said with a very deadly serious tone.

 

Iris knew while he did seem concerned about her arm she knew it was not what he meant at all.

 

"Caesar I don't think-

 

"SHOW ME!.." he yelled losing his patience while also making her flinch.

 

She then slowly pulled up shirt to reveal her stomach as she looked at him emotionlessly and there he and the other apes around her saw the atrocious words that were craved savagely on her pale flesh,Caesar and Rocket looked at in horror while Luca winced remebering it .

 

"Does this satisfy you?" she asked him bluntly as she tried to keep her keep her voice from breaking.

 

He eyes filled with hurt as turned his head away and them tightly unable to stand the sight anymore, making her pull down her shirt.

 

"Malcolm...told me about...your condition..." he said as he turned back his head to look her.

 

This made her eyes widen in shock.

 

"Iris what-

 

"Where's Malcolm?" she cut off him curtly as sped right past him.

 

"Iris!" he hallowed as he followed after after her.

 

Iris raced through the village, determined to find the man she was angry with that moment and finally didnear the entrance, she walkedup calmly to him but he could tell she was anything but that.

 

 

 

Iris looked at Malcolm standing in front of her he looked at her with solemn eyes, it was deathly quiet you could hear the restling of the wind moving against the brances from the morning cold air and hear the waterfall close to village very clearly, the rising tension surrounding the young woman at that moment was so thick you could cut it with a knife as she clenched her hands tightly to her sides as she trembled in anger while her eyes held dismay.

 

"You told him....Why?...Why would you do that Malcolm?!" she yelled at him.

 

"Iris he had a right to know...do you know how worried he was about you or the others for that matter" Malcolm told her seriously as he gestured to others around them while never taking his eyes off the younger woman.

 

Iris took a quick glance at the king with out turning her head but quickly looked back at the man standing in front of her.

 

"You had another attack Iris, you said where getting better but by pushing others away and trying to isolate yourself you're only gesbetter worse...do you plan on living your life alone?..." He asked her sadly.

 

The others around them looked at them as they argued, the tension made them afaird to interrupt, Iris glared at him as she crossed her arms.

 

"Have you really given up on your kind on your-

 

"I tried Malcolm...." she said quietly.

 

He looked at her confused by this.

 

"I tried to get them to listen to reason, to stop the rioting and to stop the hate...but some individuals are not capable of change....Koba...Pope...and Alpha Omega are proof of that... my body is proof of it" she struggled to say as she closed her eyes.

 

The mention at the deceased apes struck a nerve for the apes around them more so with Caesar due them both brutalizing or killing members of his family making him wince remembering learning about the death of his honory nephew Ash by the ape he considered a brother and from seeing the horrific brand left on his sister by one of his very own apes he was so blind in the past, even though he knew not all humans where bad he use to think humans where the only ones that where capable of torture and kill innocents and because of that he never once thought one of his own would commit such heinous acts until Koba attempted to murder him....it broke his heart and he felt that feeling again when he saw the horrible brand on his sister's stomach.

 

"Both humans and apes blame each other and won't let go of the hate and they pass down that hate to their childern...unless we the spread of hate nothing's going to change...unless we care nothing will get better..." she said softly while looking at him with sad glossy eyes.

 

The apes around them began to look at the young woman in a new light if they hadn't already from what she did earlier that day, she closed her as she struggled to speak more.

 

"I not really surprised others chose the path of hate though...it's a way to forget your pain for just a brief moment...not apes but humans have been through the same pain...we're not that much different..." she said queitly as she reopened her eyes at this.

 

 

 

She could feel Caesar staring at her back solemnly but she never once turn around to look at him.

 

 

"I tired Malcolm...I'm just so tired...I've given up on there every going to be change...because in the end both species are going to end up destroying each other..." she told him hoarsly before she sped off past him but not before taking one last glace at the king.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yea this chapter revealed some of Iris's dark secrets who knows what will happen know, this chapter was really hard for me to write I almost drove myself crazy cause I was running out of Ideas lol XD well I hope you like it ^^


	27. Reunion of Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris reunites with others.....

"Seems like you had a dark view of the world back then Iris...we'll you weren't really wrong about it..." The man said.

 

"But it seems like now your view is even darker now..." 

 

Iris just looked at him with tired eyes.

 

* * *

 

 

**Ape Village 3 years ago**

 

 

Iris walked down through the village ignoring the stares she was getting, unlike the stares she got on the first day in the village these where more out of nervousness and curiousity it was obvious that that apes that saw her actions today spread the news around. It was a slight annoyance but not infuriating, There where only a couple individuals that she was pissed with right now and she was thankful she ran off before she did something worse. But honestly she more tired emotionally and mentally then anything, She didn't know how her body could still function after the shit she had gone through. She was now wearing a white T-shirt thanks to Ellie who she had run into to replace her bloody one.

 

She then saw Zack with Ellie which made a rage start to boil causing her to she speed over the young man. The two noticed she was coming over but failed to notice the anger in her eyes and before the older woman could even say anything The young woman punched the man square in the jaw hard making him stumble back and groan in pain. Ellie looked between Iris and Zack in horror as she help the man stand up straight.

 

"You.. little..Shit!" She growled flexing her knuckles"OF ALL THE STUPID THINGS YOU EVER DONE ZACK WHAT YOU DID TODAY MAY HAVE BEEN THE DUMBEST FUCKING ONE!!" Iris screamed not brothering to hide her rage.

 

Zack laughed a little as he held jaw trying to get feeling back into it, Iris hadn't  noticed she was drawing attention to herself from onlooking eyes. Zack wiped blood dripping from his nose and  lip as Ellie looked at it in concern.

 

"Wow Iris you really nailed one on me" Zack chuckled as he brought his hand up to see the blood on his hand.

 

"Cut the wise cracks Zack" Iris seethed not in the mood for jokes at the moment " The apes here will do more then that if they find out you have "that" here" Iris said as she gestured to the pistol in his pants.

 

"This "thing" is what saved you and those babies from being tared to shreds Rodman" Zack told her seriously.

 

"That thing does more damage than good even if you gave it to someone"  Iris scoffed. She then grabbed him by the hem of his shirt"Not to mention you almost nicked my brother's kid you bastard!" she growled at him.

 

"Its not like you never used a gun Iris, if I recall you've killed a lot of people with one!" Zack bluntly pointed out.

 

The apes around them began to hoot in distress which was very common for their kind in intense situations speacily violent ones.

 

"Don't make me take it from you by force Zack"Iris warned.

 

Ellie was  becoming nervous by the out come of this fight

 

"Both of you please calm down!" Ellie pleaded to them but her plea went on death ears.

 

"No offense but I'm not crazy enough to give a killer a loaded gun" Zack said as he gripped the hand holding his shirt firm but not rough.

 

Iris chuckled darkly"Trust me Zack I know others ways to kill you that doesn't require a gun."

 

A male chimp got close enough to see the situation getting worst, he turned to Zane who had been there for awhile who was also getting intensed by the situation.

 

Zack just stared at her emotionlessly"Your really no better then your father aren't you Iris.." he told her coldly.

 

" _Zane we should get in there and defuse the situation quick before this gets out of control"_ the male signed to Zane.

 

This remark made her flinch slightly, clearing all emotion quickly from her face while trying her best to hide how much he struck a nerve. But what she said next surprised everyone around them no more so with the king himself who had just recently showed up from hearing the distress from his apes.

 

She didn't notice the remorseful look on the young man's face  by the time she spat out her comment"What can I say I am my father's daughter...you would know more then anyone following the footsteps of your father wouldn't you Zack..." she said cruelly with cold eyes while trying to keep her voice from breaking.

 

Caesar's heart broke when she said this, he didn't recognizes this woman before him, the sister he remembered was fun loving, adventurous, spunky, and loved life but who he was staring at now was a bitter broken shell. Iris's grip tremble as she held the young man's shirt while Ellie looked at the younger woman with sad eyes at her  as she covered her gaping mouth. Eveyone could see this was going too far and tensions where rising beyond high.

 

" _It's too late now Mikey..."_ Zane signed as Luca above nodded in agreement.

 

"Your a bitch Iris..." Zack said said trying to hide his hurt and remorse in his voice.

 

"Yea I'm being called that a lot lately!" she said as she threw hand off his shirt.

 

She then felt a strong leathery hand grab her shoulder and saw Zack took a step back nervously.

 

""Fuck you Zack..." she said under her breath.

 

"Fuck you Iris..." he spat back at her as Ellie was pulling him back by his arm .

 

"Fuck you..." she growled at him.

 

She really wanted to pounce him at that moment but felt a huge arm wrap around her waist and pulled her back into a strong hard chest but she didn't turn around to see who it was as her eyes stared daggers into the man in front of her.

 

"Iris..." Mikey wimpered.

 

The familer voice is what deverted her attention causing her to snap her head  to see  a male ape standing next to her, another ape she hadn't see in 5 years.

 

"Mikey..." she said softly making her eyes soften.

 

" _Thank you Luca_ " Mike signed to his friend.

 

Iris looked up too see that gorilla that had been staying with was the one who grabbed her. Luca shook his head indicating he was disagreeing with what happened in this situation.

 

"Please..no more...I can't stand this" the chimp said looking at her with sad eyes.

 

Iris just looked at him blankly and turned her gaze to the older woman"Ellie get him away from me...just get him away...I don't know what I will do if he keeps talking to me..." she said tiredly and emotionlessly.

 

Luca grunted bringing Iris to him keeping her far away from the two.

 

When she was far away from from Zack Luca let her go and she turned around head off to the water fall, Zack did the similar thing heading off to the entrance of the village to head back to the jeep

 

"Iris..." Mikey whispered seeing her flee, he didn't think it would hurt him alot more than it did.

 

Caesar didn't try to go after the female thought it would be better to give her space but he did go up to his good human friend and grabbed her arm gently before she left with the male.

 

"Why does she hate him...?" Caesar asked her, remembering seeing her animosity for the man before but with the man he saw something else entirely.

 

Ellie sighed deeply.

 

"Zack has been pushing her buttons since there were teenagers...but what she doesn't realize is he's crazy about her...everybody in the colony knows this except her..." she said and then turned back to follow the man to make sure he actually leaves.

 

Mikey flinched a little when the older woman revealed this infomation about the man.

 

Ceasar turned to look at the younger male, he had heard him and his friend Zane talking about his sister before was surprised that they knew her it made him have questions. 

 

"You and Zane know Iris?" he asked gruffly.

 

Mikey flinched again from the leader's tone. 

 

"S-s-he rescued us f-f-fron t-the Alpha Omega C-camps..." he stuttered rubbing his arm nervously.

 

Caesar's eyes grew a little bit in bewilderment. Luca who was  good friends with the shy ape didn't even know this about him and Zane.

 

" _You alright Mikey?"_ Luca signed to the young male.

 

" _Mikey calm yourself don't get too nervous"_ Zane signed as he rubbed his shoulder attempting to comfort the young chimp.

 

"If that's true why wasn't she with you that day?" Caesar asked sternly, wanting to know about his sisters past she avoided talking about.

 

Mikey flinched at this and Zane looked at his kings intimating stare and huffed deeply.

 

 _"She made us leave her and go with Koba back then...and told him not to you that she was alive.."_ he signed to him solemnly.

 

"W-we didn't want t-to keep secrets from you...it's j-just..." Mikey stuttered, he stopped when Luca rubbed his back "Let Zane handle this Mikey" Luca signed seriously.

 

"Pope killed...her husband...Caesar...right in front of her..." Zane spoke this time with a depressing look in his eyes.

 

Mikey bowed his head in sorrow at this information shockeing the older ape right to the core and the gorilla was equally surprised.

 

"He didn't deserve it.." Mikey whispered wiping a stray tear from his eye.

 

" _After that something broke in Iris...even after Koba killed Pope...it didn't help when Koba recognized Iris and attacked her..."_

 

" _I never thought I would be that scared"_ Mikey signed as he wimpered.

 

" _Iris snapped completely...even though Koba started the fight Iris over powered him quickly and started to beat him..."_

 

" _She almost killed him Caesar..."_ Zane signed grimly.

 

" _It terrified us_ " Mikey signed rubbing his arm again.

 

Caesar didn't know how to process this, his former second in command attacking Iris wasn't really a surprise but did surprise him was that  Iris who was thin as a twig could be able to over power the strong and vicious ape and almost kill him with her two hands.

 

"She...had the upperhand" Mikey commented.

 

Luca wasn't really surprised do to the hit she put on his face earlier that morning, he rubbed his jaw in remembrance, she definitely could throw a good punch the human male was proof of that.

 

 _"If that's true then why didn't she kill him"_ Luca signed to Zane.

 

The king was also wondering the same thing.

 

" _She would have...if I hadn't pulled her off him...it was then she came to her senses..."_ Zane signed.

 

Mikey eyes fell to sorrow remembering the pain filled cries of sorrow of his good human friend when she fell the ground after coming to her senses.

 

"Why did it have to be her" he whispered to himself.

 

" _And the only reason Koba didn't attack her again and let us come with him was because he realized if he did try to kill her...he could see in her eyes that would take him down along with her...she didn't have anything to lose and that scared him..."_ he signed grimly.

 

" _We went with Koba and that was the last we saw of her...we tried to search for her and no leads came up...she just...disappeared..."_

 

" _I thought she was our friend, I don't understand why she would leave all of us"_ Mikey signed depressingly.

 

Zane turned to Mikey" _She was hurting Mikey and didn't how to cope...she believed with everything she was going through would ruin our chances for a better life...she didn't do it to be cruel..."_ Zane signed solemnly.

 

" _But why not tell us!? instead of bottling it!"_ Mikey signed as wimpered feeling his stomach making knots.

 

Zane knew Iris leaving them had hurt his friend the the most, the ape had deep feelings for the young woman, feelings that both races wouldn't look kindly upon.

 

"I-I'm sorry... f-forgive my out b-burst" Mikey began to stutter to the king.

 

Caesar huffed deeply "I'm not angry with you..." he said calmy.

 

"You and Mikey can go...make sure he calms down" Zane nodded in thanks and gently began to lead the other male away.

 

" _Iris is going to meet with me Mikey so can see her too"_ Zane signed to the other as they walked away from their king and head of the Gorilla Guards.

 

Mikey's face lightened up when Zane mentioned Iris's name.

 

* * *

 

 

Iris leaned against the rock wall As she ran hand through hair As she groan in frustration.

 

"Fuck!..Fuck..." She said as she rubbed her eyes, wiping away a few tears that where threatening to fall out.

 

She began slip down from the rock and sit on the ground as she held her head in her hand.

 

Iris..." a voice said softly making her  look up to see who it was to see two familiar apes "Mikey...Zane..." she said weakly.

 

" _There you are"_ Zane signed.

 

" _We missed you"_ Mikey smiled.

 

Iris smiled back them weakly "I missed both of you too.." She said as she stood up.

 

She soon had the wind knocked out of her by the chimp who tightly wrapped his long arms around her thin waist.

 

"I thought you were gone" Mikey started crying.

 

Iris looked at Mikey in shock and then sighed deeply as she began to return the hug and laid her head on his shoulder.

 

"I'm sorry...I never wanted to hurt you...or Zane..." she said softly.

 

"But it did, it truly hurt us..I know you weren't trying to be selfish but we felt betrayed Iris" Mikey cried making soft wimpers as his tears wet her shoulder.

 

Iris gently stroked his head "You wouldn't be the first one to hate me..." she said quietly as she looked at Zane behind the ape she was embracing.

 

"Is that what you think!?" Mikey flinched away from Iris's hug "That I hate you?" He said in disbelief.

 

" _If anything it's quiet the opposite Iris..."_ Zane signed to her seriously.

 

Mikey felt his anger swell up inside.

 

" _There hasn't been a day where-_

 

Zane never got to finish what he was signing cause the chimp quickly grabbed his hands to prevent him, making Iris look at him confusion, Mikey glared at Zane warning him and Iris saw this.

 

"Would one you like this explain to me why acting like this" She asked sternly as she crossed her arms making both males look at her, her intense stare began to affect them.

 

"Well are you going to explain to me Mikey..." she asked.

 

Mikey looked like he was a child that was caught getting cookies from the cookie jar.

 

" _Yea Mikey...explain"_ Zane said with a smug smile.

 

"Shut up!?" Mikey snapped at Zane almost swiping him.

 

Zane hooted in laughter making Mikey fume.

 

"Rgh!? Stop laughing!!" Mikey shouted leaping onto him trying to swipe him.

 

They soon began to wrestle, Iris went from looking at them in bewilderment to growing a smile on her face and began to laugh, her laughing made them stop their wrestling and turn to their human friend. 

 

Her warm laugh brought a smile on Mikey's face he really missed her laugh and speacily her smile.

 

"Yea haha I really missed you guys haha" she said between her laughs.

 

Mikey could have sworn he could see the light return in her eyes.

 

"Wanna hear a joke about Pizza?" He asked adding a small smirk as he got off Zane.

 

"Ok why not" she said as she chuckled lightly.

 

Than he shook his head " _Nevermind, it's to cheesy"_ as he hooted in laughter.

 

They eventually made their way over to a fire pit that was empty and didn't have that many apes around and Mikey was quiet thankful that because he like Iris wasn't very good at being social. Zane has gone off find his wife and daughter so he could bring them over so Mikey and her had some time to themselves.

 

She ran her hand through hair as she  yawned. She then looked at the reminiscent of destruction of the village caused by the wolves solemnly, all the process of reconstruction was destroyed and they would have start all over again which probably would take longer.

 

"Here I thought you might like this" Mikey grinned unwrapping a talisman from his wrist showing it to the human woman.

 

Iris looked at curiously as she gently took it in her hand to examine it. It was silver branded with a sapphire stone in the center the rope was black with silver string wrapped around it. She trace the smooth texture of the of the silver and the stone in her hand"Did you make this?" she asked in awe as she turned her head back to look at him.

 

Mikey nodded feeling pride swell in his chest " _One of my best crafts, I always seemed to be a better tinkerer than a better warrior_ " he signed.

 

"The stone I borrowed from Lake she didn't mind, she and the other females had more gems" He smiled rubbing his shoulder.

 

 

She gave him a warm smile" I think so too...You could never hurt anyone Mikey" She told him.

 

She brought her gaze back to the jewelry" it's really beautiful" she said softly.

 

He blushed from her comment "I only do when I need to defend myself...but I keep telling Luca I'm not good with guarding a post, I can modify a spear, I can make a bow more stable but I feel like he doesn't believe me" he spoke.

 

Iris turn to turned to look at him seriously at this" I agree with you Mikey...you have PTSD like me if you do something that makes you remember you trauma...you will have a episode and...." She said as her eyes trailed towards the dirt" and those don't end well..." she said grimly.

 

"Do you... Still remember..Onyx?" he spoke low as if the name haunted him which sadly it did.

 

Iris flinched while she gripped the piece of jewelry tightly as her face became voided of all emotion. Mikey heard the rope creak under Iris's grasp making him flinch "You were incredibly lucky to get away from him" He said it with emptiness. He was scared to look at her now.

 

"He left his mark on me Mikey...more  then one part of my body...it makes hard for me to forget..." her grip started tremble" even more now since I bumped into him a few days ago.." she said as turn to look at him with blank eyes.

 

"The only reason I got lucky was because Pope caught him in the act...the only time I was happy to see him..." she said quietly as looked at the fire pit.

 

"No you were lucky that he didn't find you to submit his dominance" Mikey turned behind her ruffling his shoulder pulling the fur away to reveal two bite marks "I'm glad you didn't see what he did to me...after he caught him."

 

"Look at them Iris and fit the pieces what happened..when he couldn't get you so he had to find someone else to release his pent! Up energy" he spoke adding venom in the word pent.

 

Iris didn't know how to react to this, she slowly brought up her hand to his shoulder that he gestured to making him flinch slightly and gently brushed back the fur to see fang indented scars grazed into his skin, Iris covered her gaping mouth in horror and then brought her gaze quickly back to the male's, she could feel tears start to form in her eyes.

 

She used her free hand to gently bring his drooping face to look at her. Mikey started crying. Iris brought her other hand which had the string of the necklace tangled around in her fingers and grabbed the other side of his face and brought his forhead to rest against hers.

 

Mikey grabbed a fistful of her hair not too hard but to feel it through his fingers "I only thought of you rescuing me from his torment" he whispered shaking from his PTSD.

 

This made Iris choke back a sob, she never wanted anyone speacily her good friend who she loved like a brother to experience the nightmare Onyx put her through and to her horror the only reason her he did it was because he couldn't have her.

 

"I couldn't sit, I couldn't stretch my arms, I checked my teeth hoping they weren't broken...I had to wear an eye patch after he punched me..he would sneak into my hut to get what he wanted when he couldn't get you....I missed you...so m-much I-iris" he sobbed quietly as he hiccupped.

 

Iris pulled away to look at him.

 

"I was saved by a gorilla..." Mikey spoke sounding like a child that was punished.

 

"His name was Garret...What he did surprised me even Onyx was fearful of him at that moment."

 

"Why wasn't he punished Mikey...or kicked out?..." She asked quietly.

 

"Because no one caught him..no one took the time to know where he goes almost everyday.. he hides everywhere no can suspect him.."

 

"Onyx had friends that covered him so he could have his fun!?" Mikey spat the last sentence clearly hurt that not everybody caught up what Onyx did to him.

 

"He dragged me into the woods and had his friends join in to see me try to scream when he wrapped a rag around my mouth, than all of sudden I heard one his friends cry out in alarm."

 

"I managed to turn around seeing his friend struggled to remove two big hands wrapped around his head, you should've seen him Iris the gorilla hybrid punched on the side of his head and..." Mikey felt like he was gonna throw up "He ripped off the chimps head.. literally ripped it off scaring the rest into the woods and Luca was behind him furious grabbing Onyx by the neck.. almost choking him" Mikey felt satsified remembering how Garret brought Luca with him to save his life.

 

Iris looked at the in shock at this story" Mikey...ape not kill ape...how did Garret not get punished for that..." Iris didn't care that one of the evil little bastard's drones was killed but did care about what the tribe or yet kind Caesar might have done to the gorilla who saved her friend by breaking their most sacred law.

 

"Garret wasn't part of the tribe..He was part of Pope's then he joined Koba's campaign than decided to live in isolation in the city" Mikey explained.

 

"He gave me to Luca saying "Take care of the kid" than walked deep into the forest hunting down the rest of Onyx's goons, he wasn't seen again" he added.

 

"What are talking about Mikey I never saw him saw him among Popes followers..." Iris asked in confusion.

 

"You didn't recognize him, he was the big guy that grabbed Onyx's mace so he couldn't hurt you" Mikey looked at her in disbelief.

 

Iris looked at him in shock and the trailed her eyes into the dirt solemnly" I try not to remember that part of the past that much Mikey...and besides" she said as she pulled up her shirt to let him see the hateful words Pope craved onto her stomach" He didn't exactly stop Pope from branding me..."

 

"He couldn't do anything..He used to hate human's, if he tried to save you he would've been surrounded by Pope's soldier's..I don't blame you for being angry I tried to ask him why he didn't prevent that event..he just simply spoke "I couldn't think" "like he thought he didn't had a choice" Mikey spoke.

 

"Other Human's killed his mate... hacked her into bits...he went into some primal rage slaughtered them..he thought all human's were to blame til he met you..and other human's who changed his mindset" Mikey added.

 

Her face fell to sorrow at this, knowing full well what it was like to lose the one you love.

 

Iris then became bemused by the fact she changed the gorilla's mind"Me? He changed his mind because of me?" she asked but not believing it.

 

"He ahem" Mikey coughed "watched you from afar.. seeing you talking to the other Apes.. talking to me..he saw how Onyx...had his fun with you..he met Pope in secret presenting enough evidence to get him to intervene..in doing so Onyx tried to get me..."

 

"Even though he didn't help me..I'm glad he helped you..." she told him softly.

 

Just then they saw Zane come back to the fire pit with a female chimp who was carrying a young ape that looked about 1 year old who looked at the young woman curiously and then hid her face shyly into her mother's breast with occasionally taking peeks at Iris.

 

"Hi Zane I didn't know you were bringing your family up here" he called out to his friend.

 

Zane smiled " _I wanted Iris to meet them"_ he signed to him but his smile dropped a little when saw redness in Iris's eyes.

 

" _Did something happen?"_ Zane signed.

 

"I told Iris a long joke that made her laugh so hard she bursted in tears" Mikey intervened.

 

"Yea what he said..." she replied going along with it.

 

"But it's great that you brought your family it'll be nice for all of us to have fun talking to each other" Mikey smiled.

 

Zane smiled again at this " _Iris, this is Opal my wife and Tulip our daughter_ "  he signed then putting his hand on the females shoulder, the female obviously already knew Mikey but looked a little unsure about the young woman.

 

Opal was a pretty chimp light brown fur with light greens eyes and Tulip had her eyes with darkish brown fur.

 

Iris smile gently to them " _Nice to meet you"_ she signed.

 

 

Mikey rubbed his shoulder feeling the scar underneath itch. Zane and Opal sat on the log on the side of them The female saw Mikeys action and looked at him concerned. " _Are you alright Mikey"_ She signed to him.

 

Mikey looked up at her half smiling "No worries I think some bug bit me" he spoke continuing to scratch it"I'll be ok Opal but thanks for asking."

 

Opal nodded but didn't seem too convinced but she didn't want to pressure him. She then turned her eyes to Iris " _Zane has told me a lot about you"_ she signed.

 

Iris became slightly curious "What has he told you about me?" She asked the female ape.

 

" _That you saved him, that you are a good friend...family..."_ she signed a warm smile then grew on her face" _I thank you...I wouldn't have met him if it wasn't for you."_

 

Iris looked at Zane in a bit of surprise. 

Iris then noticed Tulip climbed out her mother's grasp and started to crawl over curiously but cautiously to her. Iris smiled gentley as she offered her hand to the little girl, The youngling look at her hand then looked at the young woman who probably looked very strange to the young ape but it didn't stop Tulip from putting her two little hands on top of Iris's.

 

"Hello Tulip..." she said softly, the youngling preched at her at mention of her name.

 

Iris was caught off guard when Tulip climbed up to her leg and sat on her lap and grabbed a strand of her hair and started to inspect it, Iris went from shock from laughing lightly.

 

"I think she likes you" Mikey said as he hooted a little in laughter.

 

He continued scratching his shoulder after the scabs were ripped off.

 

"I think she likes my hair" she said as turned her head to smile at Mikey.

 

She then turned her gaze back to look at Tulip was tangling more strands of her hair in her little hands.

 

"Cornelius is like this too when I'm with him..." she said softly.

 

Iris put her hand behind the younglings back to support her as one of her little hands grabbed the hem of her shirt to reach higher. Zane smile fondly as he watched the scene in front of him even Opal who was a little unsure at first began to smile as well.

 

"There..you are" a gruff voice said making her and the others  turn their heads to see who it was.

 

"Hey Blue..." Iris said softly as he and the female came closer to the fire pit.

 

" _Hello Mikey"_ the female signed to the male.

 

Mikey looked at him confused that he was here but understood because of Lake.

 

"Hi Lake" Mikey spoke waving at her wincing as he felt blood dripped from the bite mark.

 

Iris looked between Mikey and the female interested"Friend of yours?" she asked.

 

She could feel the female looking at her curiously, it didn't really suprise her though do her being the talk of the village recently, most not being really good.

 

"Oh this is Lake, Iris she's a close friend of my friend and is close with Blue eyes" Mikey said.

 

Iris turned her gaze back to the female " _Hello_ " Lake signed to her.

 

"Blue you didn't tell me you had a mate..."Iris said bluntly with a smile.

 

 

This made Blue Eyes flinch and huff in bewilderment and Lake's eyes open wide. Zane started to hoot in laughter at this even Mikey let out a small boots of laughter. Tulip looked at everyone curiously, having no clue what's going on.

 

"What? She not?" Iris asked confused.

 

Mikey hooted louder in laughter at Iris's confusion.

 

"What?" Iris looked at him confused and then turned to look at the Prince who clearly looked embarrassed and was trying make himself look invisible.

 

Mikey stopped laughing long enough to tell her why "They're not mates Iris" Mikey explained through his hoots.

 

" _They known each other since they where childern_ " Opal signed explaining to her.

 

"They would be mates if they felt something together" Mikey commented.

 

" _Lake feels something alright why do think she gets mad everytime Blue Eyes doesnt listen her"_ Zane signed as he hooted laugher. Lake looked at the male wide eyed in shock at this and then tried to take a swipe which didn't stop the male hooting in laughter.

 

Blue Eyes looked confused at this comment as he looked at Lake which made her embarrassed.

 

 _"I once said Lake looked pretty and Blue gave me this death glare"_ Mikey hooted.

 

Iris soon began to laugh at the reactions of the the two younger apes "awww Blue you look so cute right now" Iris said between her laughs.

 

 _"I'm not cute!"_ the Prince signed in a huff clearly embarrassed.

 

The boy's were clearly having the time of their life as they hooted in laughter.

 

"Ok we're sorry Blue" Iris said between her laughs as she got up and went over to him while still holding onto Tulip" They're just teasing you" she said as she gently held his face to make him look at her not before handing Zane's daughter to him who protested a little.

 

"Iris but we didn't finish" Mikey said whining a bit, he let out a squeak of surprise falling to the ground as Blue Eyes stood up.

 

The prince's annoyed look started to fade when he saw Iris's bright smile and when he heard warm laugh making him stare at her in somewhat awe.

 

This made Iris look at him in confusion "What?" she asked. " _It's just I never heard you laugh or seen you smile like this before"_ Blue Eyes signed to her.

 

" _We can always tease Iris about her hair"_ Zane signed as he hooted in laughter.

 

Iris grabbed a strand of her hair and looked at it then frowned at Zane" What's wrong with my hair Zane" she asked.

 

" _Oh nothing, except it looks like a bird's nest."_

 

"Oh oh oooh" Mikey gasped covering his mouth "You shouldn't have said that Zane" Mikey warned.

 

"Excuse me" Iris said as she put her hands on her hips and stared at him irritated. "Iris your the least feminine female I know" Zane signed as he continued to hoot in laughter. Iris rolled her eyes at this, she soon then spot sight of Luca who was coming over to them.

 

Opal looked at her husband in exsaperation as she shook her head "Ok nevermind Blue you can hit him..." Iris said plainly.

 

Tulip was now being held by her mother so Blue Eyes more then happily shoved him.

 

"Luca!" Mikey waved over to the gorilla.

 

Luca smiled at the chimp and then turned to look at Iris and the others " _So what's everyone talking about?"_ he signed " _How Iris's hair looks like a bird's nest"_ Zane signed releasing a few hoots of laughter. Iris lightly swatted at him for this as she glared at him annoyed.

 

 _"I have to agree with Zane, your hair is kind of out of control"_ Luca signed as a smile grew on his face.

 

Lake frown at the males" _You males are so mean I think her hair looks pretty"_ signed to them.

 

"I agree with Lake her hair is beautiful no matter what all of you say" Mikey chimed in.

 

" _Well she does have some braids and beads in her hair, I was surprised when I saw them"_ Zane signed as he pointed out.

 

" _Oh there were? I thought it was clumps of dirt"_ Luca signed.

 

Iris glared at the gorilla at this comment and sat down on the log next to Blue Eyes"Haha" she laughed sarcastically"it wasn't my idea Cornelia wanted to do my hair and she's kind of hard to say no to" Iris said as she looked at one of her braids.

 

" _Yeah.. mother is a good femalr at heart it's hard for me to say no when she wants to groom my fur"_ Blue Eyes signed.

 

Iris smiled at little at this and then stroked his head"Yea your father's and my mother was the same way..." she said fondly making her mind trail off.

 

"Mother?..." Blue eyes asked feeling interested.

 

"Yes...Your grandmother...she was a primate doctor for the zoo...she was very kind and loving woman..." Iris said depressingly.

 

"I-I really miss her...." Iris said she brought her gaze to the dirt.

 

She stiffened to feel two arms wrapped around her. She brought up her head to see who it was.

 

"Mikey" Iris spoke.

 

"My Nana taught me that hugs sooth those who need comfort after dealing with traumatic times" Mikey wimpered pressing his cheek against her back.

 

She touched his arm gently "Thanks Mikey..." She said softly.

 

" _What did happen to your and Caesar's mother's..."_ Lake signed carefully.

 

"Lake..." Zane said sternly to her.

 

Iris closed her eyes and brushed Zane off"Zane...it's fine..." Iris then took a deep sigh and turn her head to look at the young female.

 

She a breath"I believed she was ethier nabbed by the soilders ...or killed by them because they she wouldn't give them the information they wanted...or was killed in the riots....because I knew she's wouldn't just leave me and dad...you grandfather"Iris looked at Blue Eyes when she said this"She just wouldn't...."she said queitly.

 

" _Why would soilders want Grandmother?..."_ Blue signed.

 

Iris closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

 

"They...weren't just looking for her...They where looking for my father too...your grandfather..." she said trying to keep her voice from breaking.

 

" _Why_?" Blue signed.

 

She reponed her her eyes and looked at him "Because they wanted  them to tell thrm where was the ape they raised...they wanted your father..." She said hoarsly.

 

"They wanted to kill him...didnt they?" Mikey asked.

 

"Maybe...I don't know...I think they where looking for the cure flu or they thought if they killed him it would cripple the other apes..." she said quietly as she held her head in her her hand.

 

Blue Eyes became tense at this while his hands tightened up.

 

"Caroline" Luca whispered thinking onto the name trying to find the source.

 

Iris brought her head to look at him when he said this "Yea that was her name...Caroline Aranha...you knew her?..." she asked the gorilla surprised.

 

Luca nodded" _I lived at the zoo...she was a good woman"_ Luca signed.

 

"She seems nice..like my grandmother" Mikey said.

 

Tears started to fall down her cheeks at this "Yes...Yes she was..." Iris said quietly as she wiped her face.

 

" _It's ok Iris"_ Blue eyes signed rubbing her shoulder in comfort.

 

"I-I really wish...you could have met you grandparents Blue..." Iris said softly.

 

Blue eyes nodded _"I wish I did they seemed to be good people"_ he signed Mikey cupped Iris's face in his hand to have her look at him "You still have us..all of us" he said showing her everyone circled together with her.

 

Iris then brought her gaze down  at the jewelry still tangled in her hand along with  the wrap she had on her arm.

 

"Do you remember that song I liked..can you sing it?" He asked.

 

This perked everyone's interest" Mikey I don't feel like singing..." Iris said quietly.

 

Mikey stated at her with pleading eyes. "Please Iris... please" Mikey wimpered looking at her with sad eyes.

 

Iris sighed in defeat "Alright..."

 

Iris ran a hand through her hair and began to sing the song Through the Valley.

 

Even though her voice was hoarse her melody was still quiet nice, everyone seemed to memorized by the song.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I write a lot :O and God it took a lot out of me I almost went crazy...litterly I want to thank Marianofcintra for helping me and letting me use her character Mikey you can see him in her pota story too :) can't thank her enough for being patient with me as well XD cause this was really really hard ;A; any who I hope you enjoy ^^


	28. Result of Trauma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris loses something important....

"Mikey and Zane...are they still alive?" the man asked.

 

 

 

"Zane is but Mikey...I don't know..." She said depressingly.

 

 

"Why?" The man asked curiously.

 

 

Iris took a deep breath.

 

 

"Mikey left the tribe after...certian events" Iris said sadly with a lone year falling down her check.

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Ape Village, 3 years ago**

 

Iris stared at the fire watching the flames dance as she rubbed her arms uncomfortably. She shifted her seating position to continue watching the fire eating away the wood. Since her arm was injured Caesar toldher to rest a few days. It bothered her for awhile because she wanted to walk about alot more but her arm is restricted from climbing whatsoever.

 

"Dammit" she muttered to herself closing her eyes to rest her tired eyes for a moment.

 

Wolf's wouldn't just randomly attack like that,they mostly kept to themselves  and they would only do that if one of the pack was attacked, wolves never forget and are very smart the other reason would probably be if they where driven  out of their home or where starving and Iris doubted that they where starving and Caesar thought this much too.

 

We're they organized? Or was it convenient, did someone calculate them the thoughts were flooding her mind.

 

Caesar sent scouts to track the trail of where the wolves came from and to see why they attacked, There weren't alot of evidence they could find, paw prints, tufts of wolf fur, but there was something Iris found. It was a single piece of silver fur from a gorilla no less near the destroyed wall. It shocked Iris greatly and made her think of Mikey's friend Garret, Pope's former follwer.

 

"Would he have any part in the massacre?" She questioned picking up the silver fur piece.

 

"How did this happen?" She asked herself "Does Mikey not know more about Garret or did Garret paint himself as the hero to blend in easy" she sighed trying to know why this piece of silver fur was near the destroyed wall.

 

Just then she heard a voice call out to her she turned to see Caesar.

 

"How's your arm...." he asked as he sat down next to her.

 

"It's healing..for the moment" she said inspecting it.

 

Iris then felt his hand gently hold her uninjured arm. She turned her head to look at the older ape who looked at her with soft eyes.

 

"I thank you...for saving my son..." he told her softly.

 

She nodded in appreciation "He's my family too Cesear, I would do anything to protect him" she spoke stoking the fire to see if the flames were rising well.

 

Iris flinched a little when he moved hair away from her neck and shoulder to look at the scars on her neck and collarbone. Her fingers began to tighten together and she shut her eyes tightly from feeling overwhelming emotions.

 

"Iris...did Pope did this too you?..." he asked gruffly.

 

"No" she whispered holding herself tight"I-It was someone e-else..." she struggled to say.

 

Just then they heard a gentle hoot causing them to turn their eyes to see the queen.

 

Caesar eyes light up and a smile grew on his face when he saw his wife.

 

" _Caesar_ " Cornelia signed as she put her forehead against his before settling down.

 

Cornelia smiled at Iris but it dropped when she saw how tensed up the younger woman was.

 

" _Are you alright Iris?_ " the female signed to her.

 

"I'm ok Cornelia, I just want my arm to heal, it's frustrating not doing nothing" she said.

 

Caesar looked at her scars and huffed deeply.

 

"Zane and Mikey...told me you were married..." Caesar asked carefully.

 

Iris flinched.

 

Iris closed her eyes gently as a lone tear fell out of her eye.

 

"Yes..I was..." she said quietly trying to control the trembling in her voice.

 

Cornelia looked between Iris and her husband shocked by this information she was learning about.Caesar became concerned at at his sister's state and gently guided her face to look at him with his hand.

 

"I try not to remember my past" she whispered looking at Caesar.

 

Caesar looked at her solemnly"I know...you have been through so much...why...why did you not come...with them five years ago?..."he asked softly, had been bother him since he found out about her connection with Zane and Mikey.

 

"Was it...because you almost...killed Koba?...or was it because of your husband?...or did you think...I would shun you?..." Caesar asked seriously.

 

"To be honest..all three" she answered her voice slightly breaking up.

 

"I-If Zane hadn't pulled me o-off of him I would have killed him..."She said as she tried to keep her voice from breaking" I was angry Caesar...I was so angry...I realized I was no better...then the soilders o-or Pope...I realized...the hate between the species w-was hard to mend..."

 

Caesar's gaze turned to sorrow at this along with his wife's.

 

"Why did Pope kill him...and left you alive?..." Caesar asked cafefully but thankful that the traitorous ape didn't kill his sister.

 

"They said he was tainted and must be cleansed" she covered her eyes.

 

"What do...you mean..tainted?..." Caesar asked seriously.

 

"They believed I poisoned his mind, hypnotized him into worshipping me" she felt herself almost break.

 

She felt herself bend over slowly and fall onto Caesar's lap, the male was cut off guard but gently laid his hands on her back and shoulder.

 

"I still don't understand why..." Caesar said softly.

 

"Moon..was an Ape Cesear..just like you" she simply spoke.

 

Caesar flinched in complete shock, he then turned to his queen who had the same expression as he, through the ten years they had been free they had never of heard, seen,  let alone thought about a human marrying a ape it was unheard of, a unspoken taboo. But Caesar did know one thing, his sister still had a way of touching others, her having friends with both species with out prejudice was proof of that.

 

Caesar could see through her deep sorrow just how much she loved Moon and didn't care if he was human or ape, this deep love is also how he felt for his own wife...he didn't know how he would go on if he lost her.

 

"The reason I brought Mikey and Zane to San fransico was so they could start a new life in your village and...it was also the reason why Moon and I planning on meeting with you...because I knew the humans would kill him on sight or never alone accept our relationship..." she said as she began to sob.

 

Cornelia looked at her sadly.

 

Caesar then saw a ape come over to them in a hurry with panic in his eyes.

 

"Zane" Ceasar spoke gruffly.

 

Iris brought herself to sit up at this but before quickly wiping her face, she turned to look at the male who was trying to catch his breath.

 

Her expression turned to concern once she saw Zane "Zane what's wrong?..."

 

Zane was leaning over breathing deeply, Cornelia concerned for the male went over to him and started to rub his back.

 

"M-mikey...had an Episode..he killed two of warriors and he's.. fighting Luca with..a mace" Zane breathed.

 

Caesar looked at Zane in shock and then look to his wife who had horror on her face.

 

Iris quickly got up from the log"Where is he?" she asked him curtly.

 

Loud hoot's and roars were coming from below.

 

"At the center of the Village" Zane answered as his breathing came back.

 

Once he said that Iris quickly dashed towards that direction.

 

"Iris!" Caesar hollared at her.

 

* * *

 

 

Mikey swung and pointed the mace at the apes surrounding him like a maniac.

 

"I will not go back!!! I won't let them take me!!" he roared swinging at Luca almost aiming his cheek when the gorilla tired to grab him.

 

Rocket slammed into the young ape as they both wrestled into the mud ground, Rocket grabbed both of Mikey's arms pinning him into the ground "Wake up Mikey this isn't you!?" He spoke trying to talk sense into the kid, Mikey stared at him with red eyes.

 

" _Mikey please stop!"_ Lake signed to her friend.

 

"Aaaaahhhh!!!!" He screamed remembering how Onyx pinned him like this when he had his fun with him Mikey snarled like an animal biting onto Rockets shoulder piercing the fur and skin tasting his blood.

Maurice pushed Lake back so she wouldn't get hurt.

 

Mikey then threw the older male off him and started to snarl at everyone around him. Rocket roared in pain as he breathed hard prying pressure on his wounded shoulder.

 

"Must contain outbreak...they're relying on me by the AlphaOmega's revalation..." Mikey spoke furiously fast scrambling around searching for his weapon.

 

Maurice looked at the young chimp knowing he was trapped in darkness and was afaird no one could bring him out of it.

 

"No!! No! Get out of my head!? Shut up! You don't know me, Rgh!!! Stop it!!!" Mikey screamed clutching his head shaking his head.

 

By the time Iris got there she could see his fur was caked in brain matter and blood and his eyes were red from someone's else's blood as well.

 

Mikey looked towards to a basket as he scrambled over to it searching furiously finding his gun clipping the ammo in it.

 

The apes started to hoot and screech loudly in distress and fear at the sight of the gun.

 

"MIKEY!!!" Iris screamed to him.

 

Mikey turned shooting three times at Iris two bullets hit the ground, one bullet skid her leg hitting the ground.

 

"Are you real!?" Mikey wimpered pointing the pistol at the human woman as his hands shook furiously aiming at her.

 

Iris winced and hissed in pain a little at this, Luca looked at Iris in horror and then quickly turned his head back to look at the chimp, Maurice also looked equally worried for the young woman.

 

"Are you real!?" Mikey yelled at her shooting the sky aiming at her again.

 

Iris looked at him calmly as she walked slowly to him, not letting the pain in her leg affect her.

 

Luca protested this right away.

 

"No! Stop where you are!" Mikey cried out.

 

"Yes Mikey...I'm real..." she said softly while catching a glimsp of Zane climbing up the tree above Mikey.

 

"They can't hurt you anymore...Alpha Omega...the soilders...they can't hurt you, me, or Zane anymore..." She said as she walked cautiously over to him.

 

"Stop!! Rgh!?" Mikey growled clutching his head tight "The voices, there real, they keep talking to me make them stop!?" He cried kneeling onto the ground wimpering.

 

"Please don't make them hurt me" he sobbed dropping his gun as it shot again causing the tribe to duck down, Mike grabbed a fistful of dirt seething as the voices we're getting louder.

 

"Mikey listen to me...YOU ARE NEVER GOING BACK THERE.."She told him seriously.

 

When she got close enough to him she brought herself to knee on the ground in front of him, Mikey hugged her tight shaking furiously as he sobbed.

 

Luca tried to make a grab for the young woman and pull her back but was signaled not to by Maurice.The clouds above began to darken the sky as the droplets of rain came down.

 

" _Let her handle this...she might be able to calm him"_ The orangutan signed to the gorilla and then turned to watch the young woman.

 

"I-it w-was s-s-so dark, e-empty a-a-and it was Cold!!" he cried. 

 

"I was s-so alone t-t-there were t-t-t-times they would open my cage and.." Mikey continued to sob harder.

 

"I-i just w-w-wanted them to stop!" Mikey's fur was washed from the rain drops cleaning the blood and brain matter falling into the ground.

 

"I understand...I understand too well...my body is proof of it..." she told him softly.

 

He believed her, he remebered when he first met her she had saved him from from being beatened by a soilder only for her to be beatened instead.

 

 

"I w-w-ish y-you w-w-ere near me" Mikey whispered hugging her tight afraid that she might be an illusion.

 

"I'm here Mikey...I'm here..." she reasured him.

 

Mikey calmed for a bit rubbing his eyes seeing Iris's face clearer, All the apes around them looked at the woman in shock and amazement that she was able to calm the young male down Inculding Rocket and Luca.

 

 

"Iris" Mikey wimpered looking at her seeing his realization "I-I'm a monster" he stuttered turning his head away.

 

 

Iris looked at him solemnly"Nonono...no Mikey..no...your too sweet to be a monster...you would never hurt anyone on purpose..."she reassured" You not a monster...I am..." she said grimly.

 

 

Mikey could see her hair falling in front of her face as the rain dripped down it.

 

 

"No! Your not!?" Mikey embraced her "I killed those two warriors...I-i b-b-bash t-their b-brains out, worst of all I enjoyed it" He stuttered.

 

 

Mikey didn't think his attraction to her was getting strong seeing the rain drip down her face. He swallowed nervously as he pulled her hair back to show her full face.

 

 

"And I've killed much more then than that...my own kind eveb denouced me as human Mikey.." she told him sadly.

 

 

"But your beautiful I uh mean human to me" he whispered.

 

 

Iris took a glace at Zane who was at the top of the tree, ready to jump on the young male if he lost control again.

 

 

 

Caesar had finally made it to the scence and saw in bewilderment that Iris not only calmed the young male was was causing chaos just a few moments ago but was now comforting the ape like her was a child. With out turning her head away from the male Iris cautiously picked up the gun he dropped and reached it out to hand it to Luca which he quickly took.

 

 

"No no no no no" Mikey was afraid to look at Cesear in the eyes "I made a mistake, I need to atone for it" Mikey spoke.

 

 

She then noticed Mikey starting to lose consciousness, Lake began to hoot in distress at this.

 

 

"Rgh" Mikey groaned in pain clutching his chest "Iris, w-whats happening to me" he said passing out at her feet.

 

 

Iris opened her eyes wide in panic, Zane quickly jumped down from the tree and went to check on Mikey.

 

 

"Get!...Sparrow! And Tinker!" he hollared to the apes.

 

 

"Mikey!Mikey!"Iris said as she check his pluse.

 

 

Sparrow and Tinker raced down as fast as possible bringing they're medical supplies once Tinker saw the state of her husband, she hooted in horror and ran to his side to help him.    

Sparrow leaned to Mikey's side checking his neck pulse she sighed in relief " _He had a panic attack_ "she signed to Iris pulling out a small gorde filled with water she opened his mouth gently pouring the contents of water to help him swallow easily so he doesn't drown.

 

 

_"I need help to carry him to the hut_ "Sparrow signed to Luca.

 

 

Lake came over quickly to Mikey's side once Maurice let her go, and began to look over the male with deep worry.

 

 

"Mikey....you never deserved...this much misery" she spoke gently brushing his cheek with care.

 

 

Luca then came over and caefully slung the chimp over his shoulder and followed Sparrow to the healing hut.

 

 

Zane, Iris, and Lake watched them go and then the male turned to Iris with worry once he caught sight of her bleeding leg.

 

 

"Your bleeding Iris" Zane spoke gruffly.

 

 

Iris's eyes trailed down to the side of her tigh, lakes eyes widened in horror at the sight of it. Iris then brought her gaze back up to stare at the male "he didnt mean to Zane..." she said weakly.

 

 

" _He shot you, almost killed you! I can't look past this Iris I'm sorry"_ Zane signed furiously.

 

 

Lake began to cafefully wrap Iris's leg with animal skin and then turned to look at Zane.

 

 

" _He murdered two of our warriors.. bashed their brains out..he has to pay for that crime_ " Zane signed as he looked at Iris grim.

 

 

" _He didn't mean to Zane he was scared, he panicked he told Luca he didn't want to guard the post he wanted to do his craft"_ Lake signed.

 

 

" _Mikey's been through alot, even after that monster of a chimp was caught he hasn't been his happy self alot!"_ the female signed furiously this time.

 

 

" _That doesn't excuse the gun Lake and you know it...he hurt Iris...lucky he didn't seriously wound her.. could have serious hurt or killed more apes!_ "Zane signed furiously to the young female.

 

 

The two apes began to argue with each other making Maurice come over to them.

 

 

Iris tried to stand up so she could stop the fight only to lean over in pain.

 

 

"Iris" they both spoke trying to help support her.

 

 

By this time Caesar was now coming over to them and when he saw Iris's injured leg  his face fell to shock then to rage making him tighten his hands to his sides.

 

 

"What...Happened?" he asked dangerously low. Eveyone there could feel the anger steaming off him.

 

 

" _Mikey didn't mean to Caesar, he didn't know he was shooting at her"_ Lake signed accidentally spilling everything out.

 

 

Caesar's widen in shock and quickly looked to Iris"Mikey had a gun....he shot you..." Caesar said gruffly.

 

 

" _He bashed two of our warriors brains out, Rocket tried to restrain him but he bit into his shoulder, Luca's alright though"_ Zane explained as best he could to his leader.

 

 

" _He shot Iris on the side of her leg almost hitting it, than he started speaking very fast saying stuff about our time back when we used to be prisoner's to AlphaOmega"_ Zane continued to explain.

 

 

"Caesar I know he hurt me and killed the two others but please don't hurt him... Mikey he's sick Caesar he didn't mean to you... know he would never hurt anyone" Iris pleaded with desperate eyes knowing full well the repercussions the king takes when you hurt the ones he loved.

 

 

"You can punish him but please don't hurt him" Iris begged close to tears as she gently grabbed his arm.

 

 

" _Please Caesar Mikey doesn't deserve to be beaten please"_ Lake begged.

 

Caesar eyes soften a bit when he looked at his sister and the young female, his eyes then trailed to his second in command who was  trying reasurre his wife as she worried over him.

 

 

"Rocket..what do think Mikey's punishment should be...for what he did to you?...you too Zane" Caesar asked his friend and the young male.

 

" _The male has been through alot...he's not bad.. should not be allowed to leave his hut"_ Rocket signed.

 

 

_"He'll have to visit our two warriors families in the face and apologize and give them something for condolences"_ Zane signed.

 

 

_"Rocket's right...Mikey isn't bad ape...never violent always been gentle...he does need punishment but he not like Koba.. I can talk to him...we can make sure he doesn't leave village till he's well again...he should take care of the dead as well..."_ Maurice signed.

 

 

" _Will he be allowed to have visitors?_ " Lake questioned.

 

 

Caesar huff deeply as he looked into the females pleading eyes"Yes..." he said reluctantly.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Sparrow hummed softly massaging Mikey's head as he flinched once in awhile, his eyes were mostly closed as he wimpered softly saying his friends names and Iris's name alot, Luca was guarding the entrance but checked once in awhile to see if Mikey was doing ok, the female  felt sympathy as his tears flowed out of his eyes.

 

 

Just then Tinker came in with Rocket leaning on her, followed by Lake who was helping Iris limp in. Sparrow stopped humming to turn looking at the others "Your here just time" she signed "Mikey...your friends are here" she spoke gently.

 

 

Mikey turned his head with a sorrowful look, Lake help Iris over to where he was laying and helped her sit down and the female sat down right next to her. Iris looked at him with tired solemn eyes 

 

"You shouldn't have come" Mikey spoke with emptiness, "You know your all in a den of a Beast" he spoke with emptiness about himself.

 

 

Lake frowned at him for saying this, Iris sighed deeply and stroke his head. Luca who standing outside has come in by then.

 

"I-I went out into the terrain deep in the forest finding Skeletons of a few dead people...I found the gun near this decayed man in a vehicle and..took it"

 

"I thought.. maybe if things got worst... I could use..it... as a backup plan" Mikey stuttered nervously.

 

"I snuck out... finding scrap and herbs..and pieces of wood..even animal bones to makes items..and clothing"

 

Lake looked at him sadly while Zane near Luca huffed deeply.

 

Iris closed her eyes"Dear God Mikey  you know the rules here...you been here longer then me..." she said under her breath.

 

"I-I-I thought I could do something...find good things to find and...help the colony..I couldn't sleep I wanted to make something useful of myself...til those Soldier's found me" Mikey felt his tears coming back.

 

Iris rubbed her eyes and sighed deeply but then brought her gaze back to him. "Mikey..." Lake said softly.

 

"I didn't want to break the rules, b-b-but I wanted to find good things..I-I took some gadgets and phones to craft Jewelry and small weapons" Mikey couldn't stop crying.

 

"I just the voices in my head to stop!!" He cried covering his ears "I wanted them to stop!!" He sobbed.

 

"Mikey...you bit and tore a hole in Rocket..." Iris said weakly at mention of Rockets injury it made her touch her neck and collarbone scars in remembrance.

 

"I didn't see Rocket I thought he was the soldier that ambushed me, I couldn't see straight."

 

Iris grabbed his hand and stormed it gentley as she looked at him solemnly.

 

Mikey looked up seeing Rocket getting bandaged up by one of the medics "R-rocket I-I-I didn't mean it I didn't know I.." Mikey lowered his head wimpering.

 

"I know about the voices...and the screams...all too well Mikey...theit the reason I can't go to sleep at night..." she said quietly.

 

"I didn't think Voices would haunt you" Mikey gave a sad chuckle.

 

"You want to know why I left you and Zane 5 years ago...it's because I realized I was no better then the soilders that used and abused you and Zane..." she said softly as she turned to look at at the male Bonobo near the entrance. "I killed a lot of people Mikey...every person I killed a small part of me died a long with it...the soilders used me as their weapon...and I was good at it...God I was good at it..."

 

"Sometimes it was infected...sometimes it was others trying to attack me so I had to defend myself...but I remember them all...speacily that night when we escaped that hell hole...I may have the been the cause of the prison escape...but I'm also the reason that the camp blew up killing the soilders, innocent humans and apes that where still trapped inside...even though some off them escaped..." she said quietly as tears ran down her eyes.

 

Mikey brought himself up wiping her tears "You look so beautiful without these tears holding you back..If it weren't for you that caused the prison escape... I think my fate would've become more worst than being a Donkey" Mikey said.

 

Iris chuckled weakly as she cried "I'm not pretty Mikey... Far opposite...and I can tell you I will never forget" "I can never forget the soilders  shooting down humans at the human Zoo trying to climb over the fence....I can never forget the soilders tying up humans and apes to crosses and then burning them alive...I will never forget a soilder shooting a 5 year old boy because they thought he was infected.....I'll never forget."

 

Just then Caesar came into the hut and Mikey got up and walked slowly over to his king. 

 

"I'll accept whatever punishment Cesear gives me be it Death, Exile or something else I hope it's painless" Mikey spoke sadly kneeling to the leader.

 

All eyes turned to the king in suspense what he will decide to do,Caesar stared down at the young male showing his dominance,Mikey shivered as he brought his hand up waiting anxiously for the leaders decision,Caesar huffed deeply but then quickly dipped his hand across his making Lake and Iris sigh in relief,

Caesar huffed deeply but then quickly swipped his hand across his making Lake and Iris sigh in relief. 

 

Mikey looked up at him anxious "Why did you do that? I made horrible mistakes " Mikey stuttered.

 

"You are to stay in you hut for two weeks and not allowed to leave...Maurice will talk with you twice a week...you not bad Mikey...your not like Koba but you do need to be held accountable... You also won't be able to leave the village until the council thinks your well again and you have to care of the funerals of the ones you killed..."   " he said plainly.

 

"I understand" Mikey nodded.

 

Iris got up and began to gently pull up the male"Com'on Mikey I'll take you back to your hut..." she said softly.

 

"Thank you Iris" Mikey said hugging her arm tight as she led him to his hut.

 

Luca quickly protested while Rocket just started at the young woman bewildered that she was helping him after he just shot her, Zane looked obviously conflicted at well but knew Iris was to stubborn to listen to him.

 

"It will be alright Luca...Zane " she told both of them plainly.

 

The way back to his hut the ape began to receive looks from the apes around them, it reminded Iris of the first day Iris was here being limped by Luca to the gorilla's hut.

 

"How long will you be in my hut?" Mikey asked as Iris lifted the curtain up bringing them both inside.

 

Mikey's hut was at the far side of the village away from the from the other apes homes it was mostly because the young male was socially awkward and shy, since he was raised by humans. His hut was more unique because of the chimes and metallic pieces stapled onto the walls he used a ripped curtain for a doorway and small feathered dream catcher's inside it alobg with animal skulls were placed around his hut.

 

"Probably until Spear or probably Luca comes back from the council meeting to guard you... " she said quietly as she put him in his nest.

 

"Seems safe if they'll tolerate my night terrors" Mikey commented.

 

"I think Luca rather deal with your night terrors then mine...I punched him square in the face last time I had one" she chuckled weakly.

 

"Luckily I don't do that" he half smiled.

 

"I know you haven't been inside before...what do you think of it?" He asked seeing Iris looking around his crafted items and small furniture inside.

 

Mikey then noticed the young woman's pale scarred skin on her shoulder and near her collarbone that was now exposed when her shirt slide off slighting as she was leaning down. Iris not noticing him looking at her looked around the room curiously and in awe"It very interesting...I'm not surprised you have always been very artistic..." she said as turned her gaze back to him giving him a warm smile.

 

"I like to remember good things about the past stuff that made me happy despite the makeshift weapons I craft" he smiled.

 

Iris looked over at the small wooden table that had a silver Locket with small red petals laid around it.

 

Iris gentle held his arm"My father use to say there's bad things and people in this world but we shouldn't stop  trying to find the good.." she said softly.

 

"Interesting choice of words " Mikey said thoughtfully "Would you like some fruit?..I store them in this small cooler I picked up" he spoke going underneath his table picking up the blue box.

 

"It ok Mikey...I'm not that hungry..."she said as she ran a hand through her hair and then stared to rub her sore neck.

 

"O-ok" Mikey spoke nervously "Y-you seem to be sore, do you need help with that? He asked.

 

"Yea..." she groaned "It's...been...really stressful lately..." she hoarsly.

 

"O-ok" he said nervously as walked behind her positioning his fingers onto her nape slowly massaging the tired muscle out.

 

"If it becomes too much let me know" he asked as he trailed down to her shoulders.

 

Iris's eyes rolled back of head.

 

"Are you alright?" he asked in concern.

 

"I'm fine...it just feels a lot better..." she moaned in relief of her muscles untighting from the males leathery hands.

 

"Oh-I uh Sorry I guess I'm really that nervous hehe" he chuckled nervously as he started pressing on her shoulder's feeling the nerves unwind.

 

Iris moved her hair out the way sllowinh him more acess to her flesh, he wouldn't lie if this made him more nervous as he found her very attractive. As he trailed down to her shoulder plates he licked his lips nervously speacily when he trailed almost close to her bra strap.

 

She then laughed lightly "You know when first found out Zane was married I was surprised...well not really who wouldn't love Zane...his daughter Tulip is very cute...and his wife Opal is very gentle and beautiful..." she said warmly.

 

"Y-yeah very beautiful indeed, Zane's a lucky male to have a great family that supports him" Mikey half smiled as he was slightly distracted by her soft tender flesh.

 

Mikey trailed up to Iris's neck tapping the neck muscles softly and carefully.

 

"Why did you never get married Mikey?...I have hard time believing you haven't attracted any females?" she asked curiously.

 

"Hehe I had some playful time with the ladies but never beyond the P-p-physical side of it...just could never connect" Mikey's stuttering began as he trailed down to her elbows circling them with his thumbs.

 

"A-anyway...I guess I'm just trying to wait for right girl who'll open up t-to me when she f-feels like it" he stuttered again.

 

"I understand that you lost Moon and it a huge impact on your life.. h-h-he was a good male" Mikey complimented as he heard her arms popped.

 

Iris froze when she felt Mikey's hands go underneath her bar strap and started to sink lower down her chest.

 

"B-b-b-but I'm here and I want to help  you relax before y-y-you have t-to g-go back" he sounded extremely nervous.

 

"D-does it f-feel good Iris?" Mikey asked stuttering his words.

 

Iris didn't speak she didn't even move as she felt the male's leather hands across her collarbone and getting lower to her breasts.

 

"A-are you ok with this?" He asked getting scared.

 

"It's fine..." she said almost robotic she didn't know what to think.

 

"O-ok" Mikey squeaked slowly squeezing them massaging them.

 

Iris closed her eyes as she felt his touch,she could also feel the male's leaned up against the side of her's.

She gasp a little when she felt his long arm wrap around her thin waist bring her close to his chest.

 

"I-i took some human magazines that we'rent faded out t-they showed me some tricks I learnt" his stuttering slowly stopped as he started grasping one of her breasts squeezing it massaging the nipple inside he cradled his face into her neck.

 

She could feel him moving his face into her hair feeling it against his face, Mikey placed light kisses on her neck as he squeezed her other breast massaging it, Iris turned her face close to his letting him have more access. 

He gently pressed his lips against hers, he caressed her cheek giving more kisses.

 

He felt his member touching her back, Making him flinch "I'm sorry forgive me!!" He backed away releasing her breasts crouching near a wall feeling scared.

 

Iris looked at him with concern as she crawled over to him and cralded his face in her hands and have soft eye"It's ok Mikey...you can do what ever you want...your in control this time..."She said as she wiped a tear from his eye with her thumb.

 

"R-really? W-will you be ok with it?" He asked biting his bottom lip.

 

"Yes..." even though she said that she wasn't really sure herself but she wanted to help Mikey to forget.

 

"O-ok" Mikey said cupping her face in his leathery hands as he kissed her.

 

Iris closed her eyes letting him kiss her as he gentle pushed her back on the nest, he grabbed the hem of her shirt gently pulling it up to reveal her bra strap, He dropped the shirt by her side as he unzipped her pants pulling them down.

 

Mikey trailed kisses down her stomach while she just look up at the roof of the hut with the hanging decorations that Mikey made dingling around.Mikey mid way slowly unclipped her bra as he pressed his hand on her stomach.

 

"I hope you like the decorations I made I wanted to give a sense of familiarity" he spoke low.

 

"There nice..." she said quietly, she acted emotionless but honestly she was very nervous, even though she was married to Moon they never costimated their marriage and she never let anyone touch after he died, to sum out she was still a virgin at 23. She knew so was about to lose something precious but the fear of losing her friend was much to great so she decided to give up to help ease his pain.

 

"I didn't think this would happen" Mikey panted being patient with his timing "You are a beautiful woman" he groaned.

 

She watched as he gazed upon her now naked body now before him, his eyes looking at her scars.

 

"I can tell those scars tell stories" he growled.

 

"And you where there for most of them..." she said quietly.

 

He then positioned himself in her front  walls before looking at her "Are you ready?" He asked.

 

Iris nodded weakly giving him the ok, Mikey pushed in grunting and shivering as he fully entered inside her "Oh Iris, you feel so good" he groaned as he started thrusting on a regular pace.

 

Iris a bit her lip to hold back the painful moans as he continued pounding inside her, growling ferocious as he thrusted hard gripping her shoulders tightly leaving bruises.

 

She could feel Miky flinch in surprise when he realized he tore through her virgin wall.

 

"It's fine...."she grunted"you can continue..." she said as she gritted her teeth and lightly grabbed his back. "M-Moon never...took you.." he asked bewildered. She shook her head "We never got a chance...we where soon captured by Pope shortly after we married..." she said weakly.

 

"O-ok" he squeaked before resuming to his thrusting.

 

She flinched and grunted everytime he entered her with his animal thrusts, she wrapped arm around his neck while her other wrapped around his back tightly and digging her fingers in her fur, Mikey wanted to find release and to forget and Iris wanted the same as well, her demons where slowly taking over her and she desperately wanted to find some kind of release. Mikey panted wrapping his arms around Iris as he thrusted faster he growled ferocious biting her arm as he held her tighter.Iris gasped in pain and her eyes grew wide with hypnotized fear, Mikey's action was making her have a flashback with her time with Onyx.

 

"Rgh...rgh..Raaagghhh!!!" He roared feeling his climax hit he groanee and shivered as he spilled his seed inside her cave walls.

 

Mikey wimpered pulling out of her walls reaching for a few towels to clean himself and Iris up.

 

Iris quickly moved away from him in horror, She could feel her heart pound in her chest along with her breathing becoming hard, she was about to have a episode.

 

"Iris I'm so Sorry!"Mikey realized what he did making him appaulled at himself as he went over the young woman and quickly wrapped his arms around her apologizing softly into her ear over and over, the familiar voice made her heart slow down along with made her breathing becomesofter, she then  slowly began to hug the ape back .

 

"Iris..."Mikey said in relief.

 

Iris couldn't help but think that what they just did was going to create more problems then they realized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that chapter got intense, wow another chapter so quickly :) it was long just like the last one so kind of drive me crazy lol Xd I'm glad I had Marianofcintra help for that can't thank her enough ^^ I hope youguys like the chapter :)


	29. Consequences of Ones Actions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris and Mikey face...problems...

Then man started to shift around uncomfortably in his chair after the young woman mention the part of losing her virginity. Iris just stared at him a little amused as she leaned back into her chair and crossed her arms.

 

"What's wrong?..." she asked him.

 

He quickly cleared his throat and made weak eye contact with her.

 

"It's just...I never thought- 

 

"That I would be a virgin till I was 23" she said bluntly.

 

Then man nodded.

 

"You were a spit fire Iris...did a lot of crazy and dangerous things...you took risks..." he said plainly.

 

"Well sex or boys wasn't really on my mind when I was running for my life and trying to stay alive..." she said sarcastically while she leaned forward in her chair"and once men found who I was they didn't really want to touch me which I had no problem really...half them were dumbasses I couldn't stand them why would I want to breed with them"she said as she ran a hand through her hair.

 

Then man rubbed his eyes in exsaperation at this. "So you suspected the old follower of Pope...Garret?...to be the one who arranged the attack on the village...was that true?" he asked trying to change the subject.

 

"That's what I thought at the time..." Iris said.

 

"But?" the man asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

Iris sighed deeply.

 

"The attack was just a bigger part of a bigger coup planned by a group of apes...." she said grimly.

 

* * *

 

 

**Ape village 3 years ago**

 

Iris sat on a log deep in thought at the end and somewhat deserted part of the village replaying the event that happened just 8 hours before in her head.

 

"What have done..." she said quietly as she touched her now banged shoulder, the reminder of what her and Mikey did.

 

She did something without thinking and because of that she lost something precious and not only that she learned about one her oldest friends has deep romantic feeling for her which made the act she did with him even worse, she loved Mikey she really did but not in that way.

 

"Why, why, why, why did I egg him on" she wimpered clutching her head.

 

She then stood up and started to pace around.

 

"Fuck!Fuck!"she said underneath her breath as she kicked the dirt a few times in frustration.

 

She had basically played with male feelings given him false hope of a relationship. She needed to tell Mikey soon, she can't live a lie to make him feel better.

 

"Fuck!!"she raised her voice as she ran her hand through her beaded hair and then rubbed her eyes.

 

Her sleep hadn't really improved and recent events didn't help that one bit, she couldn't believe her life is now completely fucked up and it happened and she let it. The only thing that changed about her sleeping arrangement was now she was staying in Maurice's hut because Luca was guarding Mikey's for the remainder of his house arrest. She made sure to scrub herself clean before she went into his hut knowing his sense of smell would catch into her easily as long with wrapping up her bite with animal skin while doing her best to hide it.

 

But it still didn't stop the stinging she swore it hurt more then the wolf bite, she was also a little worried cause she knew Maurice was very smart and soon or later he might find out what happened which why she arrived to his hut when he was asleep and woke up early and left it before he woke up leading her  to be at the edge of the village pacing back and forth near the log she was at now.

 

"Fuck!!"she yelled this time kicking the log and making at roll away, she had now caught the attention a couple apes near by who were looking at her like she was a crazy person.

 

"Iris!" Lake called out hiking up to the human woman.

 

Iris spun around quickly and stumbled to the ground being caught off gaurd.

 

"Fuck..."she groaned.

 

Lake looked at her with a mixture of confusion and concern.

 

" _Rocket sent me to bring you to him, were going to place where the soldier's were killed"_ she signed grimly.

 

Iris raised a eyebrow at this"Caesar is letting me out?...really?" she said as she pulled her self up.

 

" _For the moment...He wants you to accompany Luca to escort Mikey to the site"_ Lake signed.

 

Iris flinched a little and her eyes widened in surprise at mention that the chimp was going to be there.She honestly didn't how to face him right now.

 

"Mikey is...being allowed out?"she asked a little surprised.

 

"For the moment, to help you and the others to help build a pyre to burn the bodies" Lake explained

 

Iris ran a hand through her tangled hair as she sighed in experation. She then began to itch the bite mark on her shoulder in irritation and Lake caught sight of this making her frown.

 

" _What happen to your shoulder?"_ she signed.

 

Iris quickly pulled her sleeve more over her shoulder at this, 

 

"It's just mosquito bites..."she rubbed her shoulder nervously"That got really bad."

 

" _I didn't know Mosquito bites bleed"_ Lake pointed at the red spots.

 

"They do if you scratch them..."she rubbed her eyes"ummm...where do we have to go?..." she said as she ran her hand down her face to look at her.

 

" _We have to go beyond the wall"_ she signed.

 

Lake pulled her shirt to reveal the bite marks Mikey placed on her shoulder "Don't lie to me Iris..." she spoke looking at her disappointed.

 

Iris looked at her solemnly as she sighed defeated,

 

_"I won't tell, I promise"_ Lake signed.

 

The young woman knew she couldn't hide this from the young female, from what she had seen Lake is very smart, caring and stubborn very similar to the queen.

 

_"Who did this?_ " She asked her.

 

"It was Mikey Lake..."she told her solemnly.

 

Lake didn't know how to comprehend this.

 

" _Why did he get angry with you?_ " she signed, she didn't know why her good friend would attack the young woman after she did such a good job calming him down along with him expressing his deep remorse.

 

Iris closed her eyes"it...it was nothing like that..."she said softly.

 

She gulped and tooked a deep breath.

 

"He...w-we...ummm...."Iris struggled to say.

 

"Iris..you mated with him did you" she covered her mouth.

 

" _Iris why?_ " Lake signed.

 

"Because I'm stupid!..." she said as threw her hands in the air and then kicked a different log.

 

"I-I found out his true feelings for me a-and I wanted to help him forget...one thing led to another...and it happened.." Iris said hoarsly as she held her head in her hand

 

"Do you...love him?" Lake placed her hands on her shoulders.

 

Iris ran her hand through her hair and huffed deeply"Yes...I do...but not in that way...."she told her queitly.

 

Iris could feel a tear running down her cheek making quickly wipe it away.

 

" _You have to tell him soon, you can't live a lie"_ she signed.

 

"Yea...yea I know..."said softly.

 

"Y-you can't tell anyone about this Lake not even Blue Eyes...this will turn out badly very quickly..."She held the females arms and looked at her dead serious"Not only will my species react badly to this but yours as well...and this is not considered "natural" and M-mikey..."she closed her eyes and took a breath and then reopened them to look at the female who was staring at her in concern"Mikey will receive the backlash by the apes..." she told her grimly.

 

"You have my...word" Lake grasped her hands tightly.

 

Lake flinched turning around to see Rocket climbing up to meet the girls, Iris quickly voided her face of all emotion and began to tied up her hair as she watched the older male over closer to them.

 

"Are we leaving now?" she asked Rocket monotonely.

 

Rocket looked at both if then seriously, sensing something was wrong.

 

"Did something happened?" he signed.

 

Lake spoke first "I was making sure Iris is alright..after what happened yesterday" she explained.

 

"Let's go..." Lake said holding her hand as they descend down.

 

As the young woman walked past themale with the female his eyes grew at little when he caught a faint scent off her but by the time he wanted to say something they were already far away from him.

 

" _He almost knew who's scent was on you, Let's give the others a wide berth but stick clear with Luca..and Mikey"_ she signed anxiously.

 

Iris looked at Lake in shock at this making her turn her head to get a quick look at the grey ape only to quickly look away when he caught her looking at him, she turned back facing the front nervously as the female continued to drag her away.

 

"Yea..that's definitely  going to be good idea..." she said quietly.

 

* * *

 

 

Lake led Iris outside of the village Where a group of apes were gathered. They were carrying a few supplies with them for the pyre. Iris found Luca holding a mace and Mikey with rope bound around his wrists, Iris avoided eye contact with the male and tried to pass by with the female with out being noticed but Mikey caught sight of her anyways. Mikey hooted softly looking sad.

 

She walked over to Spear who was instructing some apes and turned to face the young woman when he saw she was coming towards him.

 

 " _Does he have to be tied up like that, he's not going to hurt anyone_ she signed seriously.

 

" _Precautions had to be made, Cesear told me that"_ he signed.

 

Iris scoffed as she took a quick glance at Mikey, She then felt a light touch on her arm making her turn her head back to face Spear.

 

" _I want to thank you..for saving me that time"_ he signed with soft eyes then gently but firm gripped her forearm, Iris looked at him surprised remembering how he didn't trust her at first but she guessed what she did changed his view of her.She grabbed his forearm in return.

 

"Your welcome...." she told him softly.

 

They then all heard a loud hoot causing the attention to brought were it was coming from, Iris had no doubt it in her mind that Mikey had led them to one of the bodies. She quickly ran over to where it was coming from before anyone could react, by the time she got there she found bodies spred around.

 

The apes around them where hooting and derecting the others as they came rushing both on the ground and on the trees.

 

Iris walked over crouched down next to one of them and started to inspect the body, The faces were indescribable, they where obviously beatened to death. Long gashes on the chest area, the faces were caved in the brain matter and blood pooled over their faces.

 

"Oh Mikey what have you done?..." she said quietly.

 

She then turned head around to check if they had the symbol of alpha omega but to her relief the one she was looking at didn't. But this didn't satisfy her for the rest of them, she quickly got up and went over to the next one and just like the other man he didn't ethier, the apes all watched her perplexed about what she was doing.

 

Mikey watched Iris closely as she she did this, Zane jumped down from a tree and walked over to the chimp staring at him sternly and then brought his gaze looked the gorilla that was holding his old friend by a rope then back to Mikey again.

 

"Mikey.." he spoke gruffly making the chimp turn to look at him.

 

"Hi Z-zane" he half smiled waving at him with his rope bonds.

 

Zane huffed deep making Mikey hooted sadly.

 

" _You need let go you feelings for her Mikey...you know she still grieving for him..."_ Zane signed seriously to male as he gestured to young woman still checking the bodies while apes carried some of the bodies away.

 

" _You both have..."_ he paused in sign to think a way to put it delicately" _been hurt...in bad ways..."_ he signed depressingly to him the bonobo didn't realize the Luca was ease dropping in their conservation.

 

Mikey's expression transformed into anger "She loves me just as I love her, she saved me from hurting others, I know she cares about me" he signed furiously not wanting to bring attention to himself but he was doing a bad job at it.

 

_"I didn't say that Mikey! "Z_ ane signed to him as he frowned" _don't you I know that she's cares! That woman took a beating for you! She was in the infirmary for a week cause she had to heal!"_ he signed getting fustured.

 

" _She loves you Mikey but not I that way..."_ he signed to him with soft eyes.

 

"I don't care what you say I know she does, why else would she kiss me" Mikey signed.

 

Zane sumbled back being completely caught off gaurd by this even Luca was surprised by this.

 

"What?..."Zane said gruffly as looked at his friend deep in shock.

 

Iris then began to notice them arguing.

 

"What do you mean Mikey?"he signed to his friend dead serious.

 

"What do you mean Mikey?"he signed to his friend dead serious.

 

"You heard me Zane" he spit the ground punctuating his words.

 

Zane quickly snapped his head towards Iris who looked at him confused at this then looked back to the chimp.

 

"You...don't...mean?"the Bonobo asked wide eyed but was afaird of the answer" _Mikey don't te me you mated with her!"_ Zane signed furiously.

 

Mikey smirked "You know it!! I told you I would be with her and I showed how I care about her" he thrusted his hips for reference.

 

Mikey cried out as he felt spear punch his mouth causing the young Ape to collapse on the ground, Mikey looked up to see the male growling and baring his teeth at him he then proceeded to pounce on him and began to punch him repeatedly catching Luca and everyone off guard.

 

"You!...mated!..with the!..kings... sister!..." Zane said between the punches.

 

Mikey cried in alarm trying to shield his face from the other's attacks Luca let go of the rope in the struggle causing them to roll down the hill,The apes began to hoot and  screech.

 

Iris quickly leaped into action and ran over to them to tare them apart.

 

"You broke my tooth you cunt!" Mikey screeched in anger trying to hit the spear with all his might.

 

"Mikey! Zane! Stop!"Iris screamed as she pullled more like threw the bonobo off the chimp and spread her arm out between them.

 

Both of them froze.

 

Iris glared at both them"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!?"Iris screamed as she turned her head back and forth  to them"Your friends! Friend don't fight like this!!" she said furiously.

 

The apes started to become a little scared feeling the pure rage radiating off her, only few have seen her so angry and they knew not to mess with her when she was like this.

 

Mikey spit into his hand blood was covered in along with a chipped piece of a tooth.

 

"ANSWER ME!!" she screamed.

 

"You didn't...tell her...did you?" he got back up" _You didn't tell her mating means in this tribe!"_ he signed furiously as he bared his teeth.

 

Iris's eyes widen in horror at this now knowing what the fight was about but what caught her interest the most was the last part what Zane said.

 

Mikey ... ¿De qué está hablando?she asked in spanish the other apes looked at her in confusion

 

(Mikey...What's he talking about?)

 

"Lo siento mucho por favor perdóname" he spoke in Spanish.

 

(I'm so sorry, please forgive me)

 

¿De qué está hablando!?" she asked again raising her voice as she stared at him hard.

 

(What is he talking about?!) 

 

"Básicamente significa ... que estás casado con él ..."Zane spoke as he looked at her solemnly.

 

(It basically means ... that you're married to him)

 

Luca had no cule what they where saying but judging from Iris's and Zane expressions he knew it wasn't good. Rocket had them come over to the gorilla.

 

" _What's going on?"_ he signed seriously to Luca.

 

Mikey looked at her with guilty eyes.

 

"Me engañaste .... para casarte..." She said as she backed up slowly while looking at Mikey with a mixture betrayal and disbelief.

 

(You tricked me ...into marrying you...)

 

Mikey started beating his head into the ground crying his eyes out he seethed grabbing a handful of dead leaves.Iris just stared at him not knowing how to react, Zane then realized all the attention was on them now.

 

"¿Por qué? ... ¿Por qué me engañas así? ..."She asked weakly as she stared at him with glossy eyes.

 

(Why? ... Why did you trick me like this?)

 

Mikey slowly brought up his gaze to look at her and then leaped onto her causing her to fall on the ground and

wrapped himself tight around her catching her completely off gaurd and even scaring her a little.

 

"eres mío" he shivered 

 

(You're mine)

 

The apes began to screech and hoot in distress at this.

 

"Don't let them hurt me, I didn't want this, I didn't..but it happened please, Iris I love you please save me" he sobbed silently.

 

Iris looked at him in complete shock at this but then her gaze turned solemn at this"I would never let them hurt you Mikey..." she said queitly as she stroked his head which calmed him greatly.

 

Luca then pulled the chimp off the young woman and restrained him while Rocket frowned hard at Zane, Iris, And Mikey.

 

"What!?..is!?...going!?..here!?.."he yelled gruffly having lost his patience.

 

"Let me go!! let me go!!" Mikey cried attempting to wrestle out of Luca's grip.

 

Rocket walked over to Iris and Zane and looked at them seriously" _Why did Zane attack Mikey? Why did Mikey jump on you?"_ he signed.

 

Just then the older chimps eyes widen when he caught a scent coming off her bringing his face closer trying to confirm, Iris started to become filled with dread. Rocket then caught a glimpse of red on her shoulder making him pull her sleeve up to reveal her bite mark that was still bleeding a little with this and the scent coming off her the old ape suspensions where confirmed as he stared at her in shock.

 

"Luca.. Rocket..I know what your both thinking but I promise I didn't rape her! I offered to help her relax and it led.. you know..but please don't do this please I'm your friend" Mikey started begging still fidgeting in Luca's grasp.

 

Rocket snapped his head around and made his way over to the young chimp.

 

" _You mated with this woman"_ he signed as he stared at him hard.

 

"I love her!!" He shouted couldn't keep his head up.

 

They was a brief silence when he screamed this eveyone looked at him in complete shock at this Inculding Iris, she did recently find out his feelings for her but it was different actually hearing him admitting it, speacily in front his whole tribe. The apes then began to screech and hooted in outrage this time very loudly.

 

The next thing everyone knew Rocket  punched Mikey hard as he glared at him.

 

"Rocket! Don't!"Iris yelled in horror and tried to go over to them but was pulled back by Zane" He didn't force me! I was willing!" she yelled trying to defend him.

 

Mikey brought his head making him wince his already sore face in pain up to look at the older chimp and then to the young woman who was looking at him with worry and sadness.

 

"What's going on..." a voice said shutting up all the screeching and hooting entirely, Iris knew there was only one ape who could do that.

 

All eyes laid in the the king as made his way over to them, Mikey kept struggling in Luca's grip. Caesar scanned the situation in front from Iris to Zane to Luca restraining Mikey and Mikey's injured face.

 

"What happened?..." he asked Rocket and Luca calmly.

 

" _He leapt onto Iris, he bit on her shoulder mated with her last night after we left_ " Luca signed feeling upset that his friend took advantage of Iris.

 

Caesar face fell to outrage at this making turn his head quickly to Iris and then back to the chimp, he tightened his his hands to his sides, rage slowly boiling over him as he huffed deeply. Panic began to full Iris as she watched the king's reaction speacily when she saw him turn his gaze towards the young chimp.

 

I know how it looks.. believe me I do...but I didn't rape her, nor did I took advantage of her. I asked her if she needed help and it led the way to it but please! I love your sister " Mikey explained nervously.

 

"He's telling the truth Caesar he didn't force me...please don't hurt him..." the young woman pleaded to him desperately.

 

When the male looked into her eyes some of his rage died down and his hands began to losen"Luca...take him back to his hut...the council will talk about this when...after we handled the situation at hand..." he said while never turning his head around to look at the young male, afaird what he might do if he did.

 

Luca then started to drag away the young chimp at his king's order.

 

"Now...Burn the bodies..no one...must know what..what happened here" Caesar spoke gruffly.

 

Iris just watched as the gorilla dragged the chimp away relieved that Caesar didn't do anything worse, Zane would now loosen his grip on the young woman allowing her to go over to the one body she didn't check. She went over the man and crouched down to look at him.

 

A shadow loomed behind a tree looking to see the situation.

 

She then carefully turned his head to look his neck and what she saw made her flinch and have a overwhelming feeling of dread wash over her, it was she feared that might find the Alpha Omega insignia burned into the man's neck.

 

Iris then noticed something more like someone in the far distance. She raised eyebrow at this and looked around to make sure eveybody was busy enough not to notice she had left which they where. She then got up and began to walk nonchalantly towards the opposite direction of the site and everyone else, Iris walked straight head through the trees but could he faint steps of someone following behind her. Iris then quickly spun around to punch who ever it was behind but only to miss and then stumble a little. A black furred hand instantly grabbed her face spinning her around pressing her back tightly to the furred chest. Iris grunted and gritted her teeth.

 

"Be glad I'm not here to kill you otherwise I use your head for stew" he growled deep.

 

She chuckled darkly"Why am I not surprised it you..." she said under her breath"So you not going to finish Pope or Koba's job of trying to kill me.." she said sarcastically.

 

"All these years..your humor is still the same " he said as he hooted  deep in laughter.

 

"Yea hard to believe most don't find it funny" she said.

 

"Their reign is over, I follow myself" he explained.

 

Iris then threw his arm roughly off her and turned around to face him. 

 

"Don't take it personally I don't have good memories of you holding on to me!" she spat at him as she glared"you obviously lured me out here for a reason so what do you want?" she asked straight to the point.

 

"To warn you and your backwater tribe that your in danger."

 

Iris raised a eyebrow at this"My backwater tribe?....very creative language ....well I not one to talk" she said as she crossed her arms.

 

"The Queen in particular and that bastard child of hers, if they're dead Caesar will take a hell that everyone will witniss" he growled.

 

"That bastard child your talking about is my nephew Garret who I might add is a baby so I would watch what you say.." she threatened him lowly" And what do you mean they will be dead?" she asked seriously as she got close to him.

 

"Have you heard of Red, Grey, and Onyx?" he asked.

 

"You know very well I know who Onyx is"she growled under her breath as she gestured to het scars"And Red and I had a very nice encounter as well" she spat at him sarcastically.

 

"Very nice...they're planning a coup de Grace on your bastard family, Ape slut."

 

"Now if you wanna avoid a roasting or another sarcastic joke I advised you to take your families life serious" he seethed.

 

Iris chuckled darkly at this"ok for one thing my family are not bastard's, I am and another I was untouched until yesterday so get you facts straight " she began to get closer to him" you can call me monster, bitch, slut, daughter of the genocider, killer but never I mean never insult my family you small minded predijuced bastard" she said dangerously low as her eyes glarred daggers into him.

 

"I swear to show the respect of Cesear and his family...Glad we sorted our relationship out of the way, now are you gonna heed my words."

 

She threw her hands up into the air dramatically"by all means tell me because I'm just a stupid human" she said sarcastically.

 

Garrett crossed his arms seriously glaring at the human awaiting her answer.

 

"They're sending a spy to watch your family close til they get the proper strike to kill them silently, I watched closely to see them whispering each other about it. Grey is sending the spy, Red is sending Onyx to masquerade in the crowd... I believe he intends to get you and Mikey after what the two of you went through, Onyx has brought his own soldier's to disguise themselves as your brothers Allie's and guards" he explained thouraghly.

 

Iris was completely taken off gaurd by this making her freeze"How do I know you not part of this little coup Garret...you have a history of being of part them?" she asked dead serious as she glared at him.

 

"If I were, they would've surrounded you in a matter of seconds before you can scream" he commented.

 

"You also forget I nearly beated Koba to death Garret" Iris said softly as she got up straight to his face.

 

"Wasn't impressive, he still could kill you."

 

"Yet he couldn't...do you honestly know how many I've killed...my own kind turned my into a weapon when I just a child...and I remember every single one I killed...." She said depressingly"....and that's the reason why I didn't kill Koba because I knew I would end up just like him.. just like you...who let Moon die...a ape who never even hurt you or anyone..." she said as her voice started to break.

 

"Woman up human, you still have a long journey ahead."

 

She laughed "haven't you heard I'm not "feminine" enough to be a woman" she said as she wiped one her eyes to stop a incoming tear"And I honestly don't care about my journey anymore...all I care about is my family...after their safe...I don't care what befalls me...I've been wishing I was dead for a long time" she said depressingly as she trailed her eyes off to the side.

 

Garrett kneeled down leveling his height pressing his large leather hand on her shoulder "They say the journey is not the end it's the beginning of new things flourishing, family is one of them" he spoke deep.

 

Iris brought he glossly gaze back to the gorilla.

 

"But mine has demons that follow me wherever I go...." she said grimly.

 

"Do they know how to swim?" He gruffly said.

 

"I tried to drown them and scream them out under the water mutiple times...it doesn't work..." She said quietly.

 

"Find a way than" he growled deep.

 

"Why help the tribe Garret? Why help me?..."she asked quietly.

 

He sighed stressfully "You changed my perspective, especially about human's" he admitted.

 

"You never gave up, you didn't let Pope break you, you always fought back, not to mention you never once showed prejudice to my kind...." he tolded her plainly.

 

Iris walked backwards till her back was up against a tree making her slide down and sit on the dirt as she looked at the gorilla with tired eyes. 

 

"I'm so tired Garret...I'm tired of the death...I'm tired of the figjting...I tired of both sides thinking there better then the other but in the in the reality were both shit..." She said looking at the trees while wiping years on her face with her hand.

 

"There's no denying it both of our races are different and each has they're own view on the world, but...I have a feeling Apes will be the dominant species soon" he explained.

 

"That doesn't surprise me one bit...humans caused there own down fall..."she her gaze lowered "the world has always been shit but...we helped make it hell..." she said as she brought her eyes too look at him.

 

"And Apes will take over this Hell, suckling it dry as human's had done" he said.

 

"And in the world's eyes my father was the bringer of Armageddon" she chuckled sadly"It's funny"she ran hand threw her lose hair that fell into face as she chuckled"my own kind denouced me as human...so I don't know what am anymore" she as she leaned her head back against the tree.

 

"To be neither ape or human...I belong no where..."she said depressingly as she brought knee up to her chest.

 

"I belong no where either" he rose her up, Iris didn't protest as he did this but just stared at him with tired eyes.

 

"So what do you plan on doing Garret?..." she asked weakly.

 

"Right now..." He released his grasp "Preventing your families life from being executed by extremists" he spoke.

 

"Iris!" Zane's voice called out.

 

Iris watched him go and once he was completely give went over to where the bonobo was calling her. She walked for a couple of second before she saw Zane rushing towards her his panic turned to relief when he saw her.

 

" _Iris I called you 5 times! What happened?"_ He signed furiously.

 

"Zane there's something I need to tell you" she told him seriously.

 

"What is it?..." He asked in confusion.

 

Iris then explained everything from finding the mark on the man to being lurred away by Garret so she could talk to him about the coup that was being planned, the Bonobo face went from shock, anger, disbelief.

 

"All of it is true Zane..all of it."

 

"We are going have to keep a close eye on all of them...speacily Onyx..."she said seriously"and if anyone does seem suspicious, find out more about them we can't have things go awry."

 

" _Iris we need to tell the council_ "Zane signed seriously to her.

 

"Do you think most of them will believe me Zane!" she snapped curtly"And Garrett wants this tightlip, we can't let anymore of the tribe to know."

 

Zane scoffed at this " _you honestly trust Garret? Pope's follower, if you remember Iris he took part in your torture and let Moon die!"_ he signed angrily.

 

"He said I changed his perspective, that was all of the information I got from him" she said furiously trying not to remember Moon.

 

"We don't have a choice right now speacily if Alpha Omega might be out there right now"she gestured to the forest" a coup will only add to the chaos Zane and many innocents both ape and humans will die..." her eyes began to get glossy" You more then anyone know what Alpha Omega are capable of and what happens when a ape craves power..." she said grimly.

 

Zane huffed deeply.

 

" _Lets get back for now...everyone is looking for you"_ he signed as he gestured to her to follow him.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot happened this chapter and Garret has finally been revealed :D he's my good friend Marianofcintra character I would also like to thank her for helping with this chapter :) check out her story pota New York becomes ape :)


	30. Reaching a Breaking Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things become complicated....

"Honestly...I'm with Zane, I'm surprised you trusted Garrett after all he was Pope's follower and he did take part in your torture..." the man said as he looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

 

Iris just stared at him emotionless.

 

"I didn't really have much of choice...the threat to the village...to Caesar and his family was more important then my past....trauma" she struggled to say"And honestly even though it may be hard to believe Garret was not as worst as Pope and Onyx..." she said.

 

"From what you've told me your probably one of the few humans he has respect for...and the apes don't respect many..." the man said plainly.

 

"He led more than what he wanted me to believe" she spoke.

 

"You know he could have killed me when I tried to kill Koba or when I was freed from Pope...but he didn't..." she leaned her head back ran a hand through her hair"...our relationship was...complicated...one minute we would be telling each other off the next we were working together in the middle of a battle..." she chuckled a little remembering their time together.

 

The man became interested at this as he looked through some papers"There was an incident at an alpha omega base 2 years ago of you evading it and blowing it up and people said there was a large and brutal ape that helped you...that ape was Garret wasn't it?" the man asked.

 

"It was one the things we had in common...we both hated Alpha Omega for what they did to us...and what they were still doing..." she said darkly.

 

* * *

 

 

**Ape Village 3 years ago**

 

Iris dropped the body she dragged over to the pyre on top the other ones in a huff, she ran a hand through her sticky sweaty hair as she back away to allow apes to do the same. Once they brought the last of them they started a fire and began to burn them, Iris just watched the flames dance around as they smoldered the carcasses. She could feel her heart speed up as she watched, the fire seemed to be the cause of  most of her trauma from the fire in Muir woods 9 years ago which burned her arm, the burning of the infected or apes alive by Alpha Omega, to blowing up the Alpha Omega base where many lost their lives. She took a deep breath and gulped as she brought up a tense hand close to her face. Iris was snapped out of her trance when she felt a hand on her shoulder making her turn her head to see Luca.

 

" _Are you alright?"_ he signed to her in concern.

 

She looked at the fire"Yea..." she replied hoarsely. "Yea...I just don't like fire that much..." she said.

 

Luca looked over at the young woman while he was wondering why she disliked fire he could easily tell that there were other things plaguing her mind right now especially after what he witnessed today. When he found out what her and Mikey did a mixture emotions overcame him, most of it was shock then it turned to anger for what for his friend did to the young woman he was looking after but it wasn't to do to disgust or even that the chimp took advantage of the kings sister but much to his great shock that because he discovered he had developed feeling for her that he didn't realize until that moment that the chimp revealed what conspired between the both of them.

 

Luca turned his head to see in Surprise the prince, walking towards them fuming. Iris followed his gaze and sighed deeply when she saw the young male come over to them with Lake chasing after him.

 

"Hello Blue..." she said weakly.

 

" _Blue Eyes calm yourself!"_ Lake signed attempting to calm the situation.

 

Blue Eye's ignored her words grabbing onto to Iris's shirt pulling the sleeve down to reveal the bite mark. Iris was caught off guard by this a little but did her best to remain calm.

 

He closed his eyes fuming than breathing slowly looking at Iris again " _It's true what they say, I wished I didn't believe it... now I don't know what to say to you"_ he signed.

 

He opened his eyes " _Is it true..that you led him on..or did he do it to you?_ " he asked sounding betrayed and disappointed.

 

She looked at him depressed"No I didn't sweatheart...he has.." she licked her chap lips and took a breath as she tried to explain it carefully" deep feeling for me...apparently for a long time now that I didn't find out till he...he expressed it..."Iris could feel her vision get glossy.

 

"Mikey was going through a lot and I wanted to help him somehow...s-so I just let him do he wanted to me..." she said as she not to choke up.

 

" _Than It's true, he was jealous of Moon..."_ Blue Eye's felt Lakes hand caressed his bicep attempting to calm him " _They're gonna hold a council meeting, and Mikey will be a prisoner at the time, it's pure utter chaos_ " he said.

 

_"I tried to appease them but they wouldn't have it, I tried explaining this to Caesar but he was interrogating Mikey"_ Lake piped in.

 

Luca grabbed ahold of Lake's shoulder squeezing it for comfort.

 

Iris grew wide at this "Where are they?" she asked curtly.

 

" _At the summit, they're talking each other to death about this chaos"_ Blue Eyes frowned clearly showing he hated being there.

 

With that Iris quickly raced off to that direction causing them to chase after her.

 

"Iris no!!! Your not ready" Lake shouted in the distance.

 

Iris didn't hear as she raced over to where the council was, great feelings of dread overwhelmed her making her think of times when others hurt the ones her brother loved causing him to retaliate violently and by the look, l she saw in Caesar's eyes today she knew he was close to that again. She didn't have a hard time spotting the group due to the loud screeching, she didn't allow herself to catch her breath as she made her way over to the chaos. She gave a short shout feeling a large leather hand pulling her into the crevice of a cave and then she felt another shoving her at the rocky wall. She was about to punch whoever it was but her fist was quickly caught.

 

"Close call Iris" Garrett growled"What do you think you're doing?" he questioned.

 

Iris growled as she violent threw the gorilla grip off her "I'm trying to Save my friend from being killed by my brother you bastard!" she said as she tried to go out of the cave not really wondering why he was in the village right now due to the situation at hand only to be yanked back to face the male.

 

He grabbed her shirt shoved her against the rock wall "Listen to me!!" he growled.

 

He's safe, Mikey's safe, your brother is talking to him, despite the fact what happened was dramatic" he spoke calmly.

 

"Garret you didn't see him today! He doesn't react well when he finds out someone hurts, threatens or takes advantage of his family!" she yelled desperately at him.

 

"Rgh meet me at the edge of camp tonight, it'll rain so we'll be covered safely, I have something to tell you that you need to hear" he spoke sounding irritated shoving the human out of the cave.

 

Making her stumble but not enough to lose her footing she ran her hand through her hair in a huff as she glared and flipped him off "You fucking brute.." she growled under her breath as she made her way over to the screeching council.

 

"Caesar!" she yelled causing everyone to shut up the screeching and all turn their eyes to her and allowing causing Lake, Luca, and the Prince to find her as well.

 

The young woman's eyes laid on the king as he stared at her and then she brought them to Mikey. He was on the ground crying his eyes out, There were some spots of blood. When Iris saw this she made her way over to get a closer look and then she gently grabbed his face and brought it back up so she could look at him and her eyes widen a little at what she saw.

 

"What happened?..." she asked slowly as she turned her head slowly to look at Caesar"Does someone want to explain to me what's going on?!" she yelled at everyone.

 

Iris quickly kneeled down as in front of Mikey and stroked his head gently as her face fell to sorrow at the fresh bruising on the chimps face, while there was still some from his fight with Zane and Rocket's punch she able to notice fresh ones as well.

 

"Oh god Mikey..." she said weakly.

 

"Please just end this I can't stand it anymore" he whimpered.

 

She closed her eyes tightly as she trembled in anger"You realize he isn't the only one to blame.. "she turned around to glare at them" I'm to blame as well in fact just place it all on me I'm sure some of you will then more than happy to do that" she spat at them.

 

"I'm not going to lie I am a little angry at him for not telling about what mating means here before...we did our act but...he only did it cause he loves me...." she said hoarsely, she then turned back to look at him solemnly"and I don't even deserve that..." 

 

Lake grasped Blue Eyes hang tightly seeing the event happening.

 

Mikey hooted at her sadly.

 

"Who hit him this time?.." she asked quietly but never taking her eyes off Mikey.

 

"Spear seems to hold grudges..." Blue Eyes spoke.

 

Iris was a little surprised at this and quickly turned to look at the chimp with the gage in his ear.

 

Iris then took a deep breath and stood up to look at everyone" I know what you all are thinking...what we did was "unnatural" that is was "disgusting" and I probably could go on with more cause frankly I've heard this all before a long time ago..." she closed her eyes"A-and someone died because of it" she struggled to say as she opened her eyes to look Caesar"but in the end were not much different...we make mistakes...at the end of the day neither side perfect...I know I'm not..."

 

She then turned around to look at Mikey"I-I do love you, Mikey. but not that way..." she said as she felt some tears run down her face "You know what happened to me and Moon...you know neither side would accept this...it only leads to tragedy..." she said grimly.

 

"We're both sick Mikey...very sick...you need someone hasn't given up because honestly, I don't really care what happens to me anymore..." she said depressingly.

 

The young woman's little value for her own life wasn't news to Caesar, Rocket, and Luca having heard her mention some time ago but it was a shock to Spear, Maurice, The Prince, Zane, and Lake.

 

"Iris something tells me...I have to put you under watch again..." Caesar said gruffly as he stared at her seriously beginning to worry about his sister state of mind.

 

"Iris..." Zane said quietly as he looked at her with sad eyes.

 

Iris was surprised by the chimp comment"What are you saying?..." she asked and frankly everyone else wanted to know as well.

 

"Fuck Spear, fuck Onyx, fuck AlphaOmega! And Fuck you, Zane!!! Fuck you!!" He screeched.

 

He raised himself up pointing a finger at Zane accusingly, there was still hatred in the young chimp's eyes despite being beaten to shit and losing a tooth.

 

Iris grabbed his arms gently but firmly at this"Mikey calm down!" she said to him.

 

Mikey shoved her hands off of him not in the mood "Fuck the council!! As well I would rather die than let them decide my fate!" Mikey seethed in anger.

 

"If you hadn't mentioned the conversation Zane than none of this would've happened, Fuck you!!" He flipped him off.

 

Zane glared at the chimp at this while some apes began to hoot in distress. Rocket, Luca, Spear watched the chimp carefully, seeing if they would have to step in to restrain the chimp from a fight with Zane or prevent him from hurting Iris.

 

" _Mikey you've been obsessed with her for 6 years! Even after she married Moon you still desired her! You took advantage of her affection and worry so you could finally claim her and you ended up hurting her "_ Zane signed as he gestured to Iris's arm. _" I have no doubt you made her remember him_!" the bonobo signed aggressively as he bared his teeth.

 

" _You have no idea what it felt like to be used and get fucked in the Ass!! It was the most traumatic experience I had to endure I felt abused and my identity is taken away, of course, you get everything, and I got nothing!!"_ Mikey pounded his chest referencing himself.

 

Iris looked at him angry at this"Mikey we all been through hell  don't think you the only one!!" Iris yelled. "And I do understand what you went through..." she gestured to the scars on her neck and collarbone" I understand very well.." she said completely forgetting others where around them"And you weren't the only one to be abused by the soldiers s sexually..." the young woman said while trying to keep her voice from cracking.

 

"You have done nothing for your friends, all you do is sit on your ass and watch while I had to suffer! You still have family and I lost mine at a very young age" he ranted.

 

"Without family who the fuck are we!" Mikey pressed his fingers to his forehead remembering his bad experiences.

 

Iris looked at him like he just told practical a joke"I haven't lost Haha..." she laughed" you think I haven't lost!!..." she yelled.

 

"Alpha Omega barged into my home and shot my father as I watched... I had to drag his body into the backyard and bury him..." she continued to laugh hysterically" A 14-year-old having to bury her father's body after watching him being murdered.." she said as tears streamed down her eyes Caesar looked at her in horror and sorrow never knowing the full story of their fathers death.

 

"Why do think I made you and Zane go without me to this Village Mikey!!!" she screamed"Everyone who gets close to me or who live dies!!! My grandpa...my dad...my mom...Tina...Moon...they die!! They all die, Mikey!! That's why I isolated myself in the woods and the only reason I didn't kill myself yet because I promised Malcolm I would stop trying to!!" she sobbed, this information shocked everyone around her greatly.

 

"You see...that's the thing about our loved ones right? OUR FUCKING LOVED ONES!!! They can come and be blindsided every fucking time even your own friend's. It feels like Everyone keeps saying to me, Mikey! Mikey! WHO THE FUUUCK!!! IS IT GONNA BE!! THEM!!! OR ME!!! MEEEE!! OR THEM!!!" Mikey screamed furiously at the top of his lungs frightening the council and Lake.

 

Mikey than started to cry and laugh at the same time "Like you know.. like everyone fucking thinks that I have to make a fucking choice!!" Mikey expressed pointing at himself.

 

"The next time I see you, Zane which I hope not, I'm gonna *Whistle* put a bullet through your skull *Tongue click* like I did to that chimp that was no older than me when I escaped. And I'll make your family watch how fun do you think that'll be it's gonna be like Daisy Domergue except for bullets" he chuckled hysterically doing a sign language of a gun shooting a bullet through the head.

 

Iris was horrified by what Mikey threatened and gestured, Zane, bared his teeth and growled in rage" What the Fuck Mikey!!" She said yelled at him in outrage.

 

She was about to grab ahold of Mikey's arm attempting to calm him, in his moment of hysteria he backhanded her hard by accident causing him to be shocked, Lake quickly hurried to her side. Iris looked at him in complete shock at this as she brought her hand to touch her lip to see that it was bleeding causing her to look at Mikey in disbelief. Caesar and Blue Eyes quickly started become filled with rage, the king huffed and tighten his hands at the sight of his sister bleeding. Blue Eyes growled at Mikey as he helped Iris up with Lake while.

 

Luca glared at the chimp while he huffed deeply trying to control rage.

 

His fingers shook greatly without him noticing he was focused staring at her horrified "I-I-I didn't mean it, I was blinded by rage...I didn't see her" he spoke to himself.

 

Zane got up and went over Mikey with his teeth bared"You bastard! You say you love..her and look...what you did to her!" the Bonobo yelled at in rage.

 

But Zane never made it over to him because the king beat him to it and began to hit him repeatedly as he growled in fury. Iris' eyes widen in horror"Caesar don't!" she screamed tried to rush over to the king only to hold back by the Prince who was seething at Mikey. 

 

The apes around them screeched and hooted in anticipation waiting for the outcome of the fight, the young woman could see the fury in his eyes as he hit the young chimp over and over making him a bloody mess as Mikey weakly tried to defend himself. Iris was all too familiar when Caesar became like this, he would become consumed by his rage that it would be impossible to snap him out of it. Iris finally managed to pull out of the young ape's grip and rushed over to Caesar and Mikey, she went up behind the king, wrapped her arms around his chest and pulled him off Mikey which was a difficult task for her.

 

She held onto Caesar tightly as she buried her face in the fur of his neck and shoulder. She could feel his chest rise in and out and his heart pound against her face as he remained unmoving in Iris's arms. 

 

"Just fucking kill me" Mikey half sobbed clutching his mouth muffling more of his words.

 

Caesar's eyes soften a little when he saw the younger ape's pitiful state and feeling the young woman's tears soak the fur on his back "Caesar...please don't hurt him anymore...please...he didn't mean too..." She begged him under her breath, the older ape huffed deeply as he closed his eyes.

 

Lake kneeled down to Mikey's side petting his shoulder in order to comfort him.

 

Caesar gently pulled Iris's arms off him and then stood up to tower over Mikey to state at him seriously. He then turned his gaze to Lake"Take him back to his hut Lake..." he says gruffly. Iris brought her self up and sighed deeply in relief as she looked at Caesar and Mikey with tired eyes.

 

The female began to help the male up steadily.

 

Mikey winced and whimpered in pain as he shakey got up, blood dripping down his face. The chimp brought his bruised damaged face to look at Iris who look like it was taking a lot of energy just to keep herself standing and Maurice started to notice this as well.

 

"Iris?...are you alright?..." he asked gruffly while his narrowed at her.

 

All eyes turned to her at this as she closed her eyes tightly and held her head "I-I don't-" but she never got to finish before her legs bulked and she collapsed the ground.

 

Maurice got off the log and quickly went over to her side in concern. Zane, Luca, and Blue Eyes rushed to her side as well, the bonobo cradled her face as she looked at him with a spacey look  Zane could tell from the black rings around her eyes that she hasn't been getting much sleep and it didn't help her state with recent events that have been happening lately either.

 

"Dammit, Iris...you been pushing yourself too hard...And you been having nightmares... again haven't.." he said irritated as he checked her over.

 

Mikey limped towards the cave to hide from the state of affairs.

 

"I'm fine..." she said hoarsely as she pulled herself up wobbly making Blue Eyes and Lake protest quickly.

 

"Iris..." Caesar said as his eyes looked at her with concern.

 

"I need...to do something right now.." she said without looking at him as she walked off down the rocky path not noticing Mikey was watching her every move along with a certain gorilla she was about to meet. Luca went up to Caesar having a good idea of what he wanted him to do as he followed his king's hard gaze to the young woman walking away"Follow her..." he told the gorilla, Luca grunted in response not needing to tell him twice.

 

It was then that Zane noticed Mikey was no longer with them making him search around for him "Where's Mikey?.." he asked sternly to the others making them look around as well.

 

Mikey limped towards the waterfall holding onto the ledge of the cave seeing the water splash towards the ground, his emotions were wreaking havoc..he felt betrayed.

 

"Am I truly obsessed with her?" Mikey spoke to himself questioning his actions.

 

Deep remorse and sorrow filled as he remembered seeing the blood dripping down Iris's lip and that sadness in her eyes, he had hurt the woman he loved deeply.

 

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!!!" He screamed collapsing onto the Rocky floor, he didn't see Garrett behind him.

 

Mikey realized he was obsessed with the young woman who had stood up for him that no human other than his grandmother ever did. His grandmother left him at a very young age, sickness took her he had to survive by himself to learn. He was found by Alpha Omega shortly afterwards who used him as a slave and treated him so horribly, there were days he wanted to die one day he finally gave up and was eagerly waiting for death as a soldier began to beat him with a rod but it didn't come for a teenage girl grabbed it, stopping the soldier from making another blow. The soldier was obviously furious and then threatened her if she wanted his punishment instead. The beautiful girl didn't even hesitate as she agreed to take his place, having no value for her well being at all. 

 

The chimp just stared at her in disbelief when she agreed to this, she the only human who offered any kindness to him since his grandmother died it filled his heart with warmth but then quickly it was quickly filled with sorrow as he watched the soldier beat her savagely. He flinched feeling a leather hand touched his arm, he turned his head to see Garrett.

 

Garret looked at him solemnly" _so I was right when I smelled you on her...you mated with her..."_ he signed plainly.

 

"But honestly I'm not surprised...I saw that way you looked at her back then and still look at her now...your deeply in love with her aren't you..?" he asked as he sat next to him.

 

"I don't know if I can look at her again.. I threatened my best friend I hit the girl I love and I acted like an animal at the council meeting..." Mikey spoke.

 

Garret huffed deeply"Iris doesn't hate you...she deeply cares about you... I believe Zane does too...He's just frustrated and angry right now...and the council..." he expression turned grim "They have other problems to deal with then what happened with you and Iris right now..." he explained.

 

"For now... I need you to be careful and stay out of trouble, don't give the council a reason to kill you or exile you, and wear some clothes you look naked without weapons" He smirked tilting his head.

 

"I do admit that she is beautiful for a human...when she doesn't open her mouth..." he said in exasperation.

 

Mikey kneed his side not hard but playful for tease "Didn't you say you had a woman once?" he teased. 

 

Garrets expression turned depressed at this as his hand tightened up "Yes..." he replied gruffly."My wife...but she was killed..." he said trying not to choke up.

 

"Humans butchered her like an animal...I was forced to witness it hearing her screams...it became too much something snapped inside me..the next thing I remember I was covered in their blood" he spoke bringing his voice calm and stoic.

 

Expression of sorrow and sympathy filled the chimps face as he stroked the gorilla's arm with his hand and hooted softly to him. 

 

"Iris is not much different from you...but you already know that...you were there when Pope killed Moon in front of her...and when she snapped and tried to kill Koba..." he said as his eyes trailed to the dirt.

 

"You know what's awful...while I was destroyed that I lost my good friend... I was also happy because I thought finally could make Iris mine.." he said grimly.

 

"Now you know the truth of her feelings for you" Garrett spoke.

 

Mikey huffed deeply "Yes but...I still love her...I don't think I can stop loving her...I tried...believe me I really tried to find a mate in the village but..." he looked at his friend solemnly" none them could ever fill my heart with warmth like she did..." he said softly as he began to fiddle around with a stick he found.

 

"Did you know Moon didn't even take her...she was untouched...until I did it...A-and I hurt her..." hahastruggled to say as his grip on the stick trembled.

 

"No, but I knew he was infatuated with her" Garrett turned to look at him "I know you heard this lot but you both couldn't think straight you just went with your emotions not knowing the consequences..I've been there before and those mistakes had haunted me for years now" he explained.

 

"Oh he wasn't just infatuated with her Garret...he was married to her...she was his wife...and w-we.." he tried not to choke up" she was forced to watch him die...just like you..."

 

"Enough" Garrett waved his hand I cannot change the past and neither can you, all we can do is move forward and do what we can in the present" Garrett spoke slightly angry in his tone.

 

Mikey sighed and closed his eyes" if it was only that easy Garret...the past still haunts me and my nightmares it consume me... even more so with Iris...she feels very deeply" he reopened his eyes to look at the gorilla seriously"You saw her Garret she's a hallow of her former self..." he said depressingly.

 

"She's gonna meet me tonight..were gonna solve a conflict that'll happen soon, if you want to help us, don't get in the way" Garrett spoke getting up jumping off the cliff.

 

A group of the bodyguards came close to the cave entrance.

 

* * *

 

 

Iris rushed to the resonated spot where she was supposed to meet Garret more like dragged herself like dead weight all the way there, trying her best to keep her over exhausted, sore, and stressed out body from collapsing. 

 

"You arrived...good" Garrett spoke in his new armor biting into a red apple.

 

"Why aren't you in better Clothes?" He asked as sprinkles of rain hit against his armor making small sounds.

 

Iris looked down at her black t-shirt and brown jacket, she didn't know where her jacket was because she hadn't had time to worry about it.

 

"Hope you lived up to the events years ago, let's go," Garrett said throwing the apple

 

"Never mind what I'm wearing Garret...where did you get that armor?" she asked him perplexed as she followed, but she did agree that she hadn't changed in awhile and her clothes were becoming dirty. Iris also took a look at her bandaged arm along with her sloppily banged job she did on her shoulder, both of them had become dirty, she knew would have to change them soon or else they would become infected.

 

Iris looked at it a little awe and surprise" Never figured you for craftsmanship..." she said quietly.

 

"Oh, you like them?" He smirked before frowning again" I took it from Grey's tribe, they're taken metal from car's, street lamps and they're using glass for shields" he explained, "As you can see it's Romanesque."

 

"They're's is brutish I made mine through schematics I've drawn from comic books you'd be surprised that it'll be easy to pick up the habit of crafting" he spoke.

 

"What are we doing Garret?..." She asked seriously.

 

"To my home than to Grey's tribe were gonna do some... reconnaissance" Garrett explained as the two-headed deeper into the forest.

 

Iris raised an eyebrow at this"Then wouldn't his "tribe" be in the village? "

 

"You weren't paying attention...Grey has his stationed far away from the Dam" Garrett commented.

 

Iris froze at mention at this making Garret turn around when he noticed she was following him anymore.

One of the most traumatic experiences the young woman had was at that dam.

 

"Something is telling me there are demons down that plane you experienced" he frowned.

 

She licked her lips and closed her eyes tightly"A-alpha omega threw a little girl I was watching out for 9 years ago...on-off that dam...she was sick so they thought she had the virus..." she struggled to say as she reopened her eyes"That's the day...they captured me as well..." she said as she tried not to choke up. "She...she was only 4 years old..." she said brought her gaze to the side as she felt tears fall down her face.

 

"No use dwelling in the past..it only brings bad experiences" he spoke as he walked.

 

She walked slowly behind him"I can never forget...I can still hear her screams as she was thrown to her death..." she said depressingly.

 

"Stop dwelling.. there's nothing you could do for her, focus on our goal and keep moving...and stick close the storm is getting more heavy" he grumbled.

 

This caused the brunette to look up at grey gloomy clouds, she could feel drops of water hit her face making her close her eyes as she heard the sounds of the clouds and the droplets of water hitting the earth and trees and smelled the moisture in the air. She raised up her arms as the water hit her body and soaked her clothes, her face still looked up as the water began to drip down her face. She then ran both hands through her hair and looked back to the gorilla who was staring at her curiously.

 

The rain has always relaxed me..." she said while her hands were still in her now damp hair"But I don't have time relax...let's go."

 

They made their way near a bridge across the heavy water, their passage was clear now. Little did they did they know Luca was closely following them eyeing the other gorilla suspiciously.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Iris followed the Gorilla through the trees as they ventured deeper into the forest. The young woman looked around curiously, wondering where he was leading her due being unfamiliar to this part of the woods. "I've never been in this area before... "She said as she looked around" and I've been living out for 5 years," she said as she brought her attention back to the gorilla who she could see was getting irritated by the rain hitting him making her chuckle a little. "You don't like the rain that much do you, Garret," she said as she smiled at him, he turned around to give a grumpy glare.

 

He huffed annoyed while she chuckled.

 

The two arrived at a cave entrance decorated like a viking's house. She could see different types of weapons against the walls and pile furs in the corner of the cave.

 

"Your home reminds of Mikey's..." she said as she walked and started to looked around at the decor" But with a lot more weapons..." she said as she picked up one the spears admiring it.

 

"I like to be prepared" he commented, "Let's gear up."

 

"Do you have a machete?" she asked as she looked around.

 

"In the locker" he pointed near the chest by his bed as he grabbed an ax from the wall holder

 

She went over where he pointed and picked it up to look it over "I never wanted to kill again..." her fingers slide across the blade as her eyes trailed down it grimly"But I really don't think we have much of a choice...in order to prevent for not only war with the soldiers but a civil war as well" she said as she did a practice swing. Just then something on a rock caught her eye, she put the blade down to take a closer look to see that it flowered with what looked like beads. It looked like the beads the females wore in their hair in the village and the ones Cornelia braided into her own hair. 

 

Garret grabbed her arm tightly as she picked one up to look at it. The gorilla huffed deeply as he  glared at the beads and the flowers then turning his glare to her, she looked at her arm then him without showing fear but more with confusion, his intense grip was beginning to hurt her arm especially even more so since he was holding her injured arm causing her to wince and hiss out in pain a little.

 

"Don't...Ever...Pick that up.. Again!!!" he roared in her face.

 

He snatched the beads out of her hand placing them onto the bed, Iris just stated at him and then towards the rock emotionlessly putting two and two together" What was her name?..." she asked softly.

 

He froze at her question.

 

"P-Persephone" Garrett spoke richly deep walking towards his workbench placing his ax on it adding more modifications.

 

"What happens to her?..." she asked with soft eyes as she got closer to him.

 

"She...she was trying to find me during the scourge, she was worried about my safety, she fell into a trap set by human hunters that were then they caught me and....forced me to watch her get butchered into pieces" he gripped the ax tightly wrapping a leather harness around the wood.

 

Iris's gaze turned to sorrow as she Hesitantly reaches out her hand gently on to his back making him flinch a little "I'm so sorry....truly I am..." she said quietly.

 

She took a deep breath as she struggled to say her next words"When Alpha Omega heard a rumor about Moon and mines relationship...they ordered him to beaten in public...a-and forced me to watch.."her hand trembled" they w-wanted to see my reaction to find out it was true...and Moon he gave me an unspoken order" she could feel herself choke up" as they where beating him basically telling me not to move, not to react...because he knew they would have killed me from being "tainted" by an ape..." she said as tears fell down her eyes as she looked at the dirt.

 

Iris squeaked in Surprise as the big Gorilla grabbed her and pressed his mouth onto hers, He then released her but not before he grabbed his modified ax and heading to the exit "Now we go hunting" he growled.

 

Iris froze in bewilderment from the male's action, have always thought that gorilla hated her or let alone thought he would ever be attracted to her or any human for that matter, it was like hell had frozen over that was the only exception she could think off as she touched her lips lightly.

 

"Move it! And grab something to defend yourself with" he spoke exiting the cave.

 

Finally regaining her senses she put the machete in her belt and rushed out of the gorilla's home after him into the still pouring rain"Garret!" she called out for him as he walked ahead of her.

 

He stopped looking at her with his stoic gaze.

 

"Why did you do that?!" she asked seriously. "I thought you would burn yourself alive before you touch a human like that..." she said as she stared at him hard.

 

He glared back at her "Your confusing me for Pope, your thinking too much of it" he spoke deep.

 

She scoffed at this " Well you would have to forgive me, Garret, it's not every day someone kisses me let alone an ape" she said sarcastically as she crossed her arms" Not to mention I thought you hated me...?"

 

"If I did hate you I would've shived you in your sleep" he spoke gruffly walking out into the cold rain "Rgh, hate rain."

 

They didn't notice that a certain gorilla was eavesdropping on their conversation close by.

 

"Let's go, Grey's camp is far but not far to Caesar's tribe," Garrett said.

 

Iris growled in frustration"God males are idiots no matter what species" she said under her breath as she marched after him.

 

"Women why are they so emotional" he grumbled.

 

She sped up in front  to face him causing him to stop to look at her" You were one of my torturers Garret yet you never once tried to force or touch me in anyway sexually...in fact it seemed you where disgusted by the relationship Moon and I had...so that's why I don't understand..." she said as she tried to read the male.

 

"I wanted to know what it felt to kiss one..it seemed Moon was right" he spoke as he started walking again.

 

Iris was surprised by this as she watched him walk ahead of her but not before she gave him a good rough shove "Some advice Garret all females are emotional creatures who don't like having them played with" she turned her head to tell him irritatedly as she walked ahead of him"Stupid small minded brute..." she growled under her breath.

 

"Cute coming from a Lara Croft Cosplayer" Garrett chuckled.

 

She chuckled sarcastically"That's rich coming from you Grod...." she said as she made her way through the trees"I'm surprised a brute like you even takes time to consider to read..." she insulted him.

 

"Oh I didn't know you were so witty April O'Neil," he said walking clear from the bushes"I'm shocked you stopped crying for the past 30 minutes, congratulations on breaking a world record."

 

"Oh no Garret the highest record I have is breaking the most bones," she said while holding the handle the machete that was snug in the belt of her pants tightly.

 

"Hm cute" he smirked.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun Dun Dun! So here it is :D things are becoming more interesting now, are they? I would like my good friend Marianofcintra for helping me :) I hope you guys enjoy


	31. New and Familiar Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris meets new and old people...

The man looks surprised by the information she just told him. "Garret actually did that to you?..." he said out loud in disbelief.

 

  

She huffed day. 

 

"Believe me it was a shock to me too..." she said as she leaned back in her chair and ran a hand through her hair.

 

"He began to surprise me a lot during that time..." she said quietly.

 

* * *

 

 

**Muir Woods, 3 years ago**

 

Iris followed Garret to what seemed to be the shallow part of the river. " _Were gonna sabotage their production mine. I suspect that's Grey's operation, Red powers up the Soldier's, and Onyx has said sending him info and hiding in Caesar's populace"_ Garrett signed seriously at the human as the rain started to lead up "Finally no rain" he sighed in relief.

 

Iris looked up and chuckled lightly "What's with you and rain Garret," she said as she followed him down the river.

 

"Rgh!! Itches!" He growled scratching at his arms trying to relieve the itch.

 

" I always liked the rain...it always relaxed me..." she said as she watched the rain slowly became trickles.

 

"Rgh easy for you to say Iris" he glared back at her.

 

She a smile grew as she laughed at the grumpy gorilla, Garret looked at her a little surprised due not seeing her smile let alone laugh before.

 

I knew that would make her laugh he smiled in his mind.

 

"Can you see the clearing?" He asked the human woman.

 

The young woman quickly became serious when she saw where he was pointing "Yea..." she said quietly.

 

Down the stream led to a more rockier terrain. 

 

"If you see Onyx don't ever hesitate, kill him with all of your rage same with Grey and Red...I can't have you be a liability" he eyed Iris.

 

The trees were getting more clearer knowing there are tree stumps ahead, Iris tightened her hold on the machete at this, she really didn't want to kill but due to recent events she didn't know if it was unavoidable, she was really afraid she revert to her inner darkness and wouldn't be able to come out.

 

"Iris!" He snapped his fingers at her fingers "Are you listening?" He asked.

 

She snapped back to reality to look at him a little in shock but quickly regain her composer. "Yea....yea I am I'm just thinking...about things," she said as her eyes quickly caught sight of an old fire watch station.

 

"Don't give in to the thoughts they will bring you down, believe it or not, your mind is your true enemy?" he said.

 

"Trust me, Garret, if you went inside my mind you would be truly scared about what you might find in there," she said as walked through dense greenery while still eyeing the fire watch station.

 

"Were almost there" he whispered.

 

*Bam!* A gunshot fired.

 

Iris lowered her self onto the ground on instinct and looked around in a panic. "Garret what was that!" she hissed loudly under her breath.

 

"Stay the fuck back or else you'll get the second shot to the fuckin head!" A female voice called out.

 

Iris spotted a woman aiming a weapon at them with her finger on the trigger more ready to fire again. Iris got up slowly and looked at the woman hard and emotionless "Trust me when I say this bitch that gun won't be able to protect you from me" 

 

"Why are you out here? Are you with the soldiers?" Iris demanded from her.

 

"Fuck the Soldiers! I'm hunting for food!" The woman called out.

 

"Do I look like to you!" Iris yelled at her enraged.

 

"So answer my question bitch! Who are you and what are you doing here with a goddamn filthy Ape!!" She yelled out.

 

Iris turned to look at Garret who growling at the unknown woman "If you hadn't heard there have been killings happening up here lately we are patrolling" she told her the somewhat truth.

 

"Bullshit! Your not AlphaOmega" she called out.

 

"Trust me if you don't put your gun down right now you're going have to deal with Garret " she warned her as she eyes the gorilla who looked ready to charge.

 

"And your damn right I'm not of those murdering bastards," she said as she made her way over to the other woman" I'm not going to say this again PUT DOWN THE GOD DAMN GUN!" she yelled at her.

 

The woman rose up from a rusted car carefully lowering her rifle to reveal her face she wore blue jeans with red sneakers, a tied plaid shirt around her waist an orange shirt and very short black hair.

 

"You touch my gun and you die, bitch!" She growled.

 

Iris yanked the car door open and dragged her out, both wrestled with the gun which eventually made them fall onto the dirt.

 

Even though she had blows coming at her she was finally able with much difficulty to get the gun out the other woman hands and threw it to the opposite of the dirt, she then twisted one of the woman's arm, slam her into the dirt, and lift her twisted arm high behind her in the air while her knee dug in her back. With the woman now restrained in an uncomfortable position Iris let out a deep huff as she pushed some hair back with her free hand "Submit!" Iris orders hoarsely to her.

 

"Fuck you! She gritted grabbing a fistful of dirt with her free hand and then smeared it in her face.

 

Iris was blindsided as the other woman slammed her into the dirt and started to throw blows at her again The brunette was getting fed up with this and decided enough was enough she felt her rage piling up making her kick the other woman off her and jumped on top of her and started throwing her own blows at her.

 

"You Bitch! were all gonna die in this shithole if we keep this up!" The short-haired woman glared at Iris.

 

"Then calm down and listen to me" Iris growled at her as she grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her back into the dirt" We are not here to hurt you " she said as she forcefully grabbed her chin and made her look her in the eyes as she took deep huffs" Because I swear if you don't calm down you won't have to worry about me you will have to worry about him" Iris pointed to Garret who was still glaring at the new woman.

 

"Keep that Animal away from me!" she growled pushing her off.

 

Iris sat up as she tried to catch her breath "Thanks for the help Garret!" she spat at him sarcastically as she glared.

 

"I don't care about his fuckin name get that animal away from me!" She yelled throwing mud at Iris's pants holstering her gun around her chest. 

 

"I was hoping you two could've had some female quality time" he said sarcastically.

 

"Yea fucking quality time..." she growled under her breath as she glared at him before she turned her eyes back to the other woman. "Some advice...I wouldn't keep insulting him he's isn't as nice as I am and most definitely tare your arm off with his bare hands and mean literally so I suggest you cut your bull..." Iris told her seriously as she went up to her"Who are you?..." the brunette asked her.

 

"Carley. that's all your getting from me and I don't Fuckin care about him as long he keeps a distant and you shut up about him that's fine" she spat opening the rusted car door.

 

"Trust me I don't think he likes you that much ethier...and by the amount of deep hatred your showing for him and the fact you know how to use a military grade rifle I would suspect you of being Alpha Omega "she said as she crossed her arms while her eyes trailed to her gun.

 

"Are you kidding me!" She gave out a chuckle "a good friend of mine taught me how to use a gun and no he wasn't part of those cocks" she spat searching the glove box.

 

"Say what you want but New York Doesn't have it worst than California" she explained.

 

"I know...I was right in the middle of when they called Marshall law and when the rioting started here..." Iris told her plainly as she remembered all the chaos and death that went on in the streets"So you're passing through then?..."

 

"Yes," Carley muttered.

 

Iris sighed deeply.

 

"You shouldn't go waving that gun around....I'm not telling you to get rid because honestly your going to need it but don't be trigger happy...the apes here are not cruel to humans but they defiantly won't like that gun of yours pointed it at them for just being in front of you" she told her monotone.

 

"Your delusional or woefully ignorant, Good. Bad.. doesn't make a difference I learn that nothing is Black and White I've seen plenty of shades of Gray in every faction same bullshit but I have a feeling the animals are winning." 

 

"I'm getting gas to pump my bike and I'll be out of this shithole, I've seen too much that could change a human" Carley spoke again fishing through components.

 

Iris got a little angry that she was using this as an excuse for her behavior, she then lifted up her shirt so the other woman could see her scars on her stomach and her back t this shocked the other woman greatly as she looked at them Iris could tell she never seemed a human more maimed in her life.

 

"I've seen more things you could even imagine girl...yet I'm not as hateful as you..." she told her.

 

"Yeah doesn't show me because scars like those disgust me girl" she grimaced ending her sentence mocking the word.

 

"I don't care how sad or dark your life is your invading my space so how about we suck up our bullshit and go with it" Carley glowered shutting the car door.

 

"You remind when I was young girl...very angry and very violent...you don't control anger girly it's going to eat you alive..." Iris told the girl plainly she told the girl as she started the bike.

 

"Yeah and I'm a mother killer, stupid bitch" Carley muttered as tired to start the bike and get away from the circus as soon as possible.

 

I've killed more people then you could count girly..." she said as she watched her go.

 

"Stupid Banana licker" she muttered again pushing through the bushes disappearing into bushes.

 

Iris sighed deeply as her eyes watched solemnly "That girl is hurting deeply so much she's letting rage consume her..." she told Garret.

 

Garrett leaned down to Iris's level  I thought she would never shut up about Bananas, I think she was getting my attention" Garrett scratched his chin.

 

Iris turned her head slightly to look him annoyed" God Garret..." she said under breath as she made her way over to the watchtower"You're really starting to confuse me about your feeling for humans..." 

 

"That's my job, you think I was serious?" He questioned.

 

"Only for the Science" he simply answered.

 

Iris groaned in exasperation as she faced back ahead as she began to rub her sore jaw and eye trying to relieve some of the pain.

 

"And I hate Science" he growled laying on the side of the watchtower standing guard.

 

"I haven't really been a fan of it in the last tens years either Garret" she said quietly as she began to climb the ladder.

 

Garrett had to ask this question bugging his mind "Is it true what she said about New York? That it's fairing better than California?" He asked.

 

She stopped climbing for a couple seconds" Honestly...I don't know... I haven't left this state in 10 years but I heard some rumors" she said as she began to climb again.

 

"Maybe I'll go check it out because once everything is resolved out here I plan on leaving..." she said as made it to the top of the hatch.

 

"hm..." he grunted.

 

The hatched didn't want to budge but after a few hits it popped right open allowing her to go inside which she made meet dust as soon as she did, she looked around to see an old table, small fridge, a bed, and a radio.

 

"It...it turned out bad..." she replied grimly.

 

"How bad?" he asked.

 

" He threatened Zane, had a breakdown, hit me in the face, and Caesar pounced on him..." Iris said as she continued to look around.

 

Garrett's brows raised in alarm "Why would we be threatened his best friend?"

 

"Because he told him that us being together wouldn't be good cause we are both broken..." She said as brought herself closer to stare out the window" and because he pretty much yelled in rage to the whole tribe when he found out what Miley and I did..." 

 

"What did he exactly say to Zane at the trial" Garrett asked seriously.

 

Iris walked back over to opening to look down at the gorilla" He said and I quote " Next time I see you I will kill you" and he then a made gun reference with his hand" she told him solemnly.

 

"That's not Mikey talking, that's Onyx talking" Garrett said grimly.

 

"I know..." she looked at him with grave eyes" I'm really scared Garret...of what he's becoming... it's like a darkness is taking over him..." 

 

"Iris, how long have you been gone away from Zane and Mikey?" He asked.

 

"About 5 years..." she told him quietly. 

 

"I having a theory that's telling me that rape wasn't the only thing Onyx intended, I know he was using mind indoctrination on the kid" he growled.

 

The young woman face became serious at this"What do you mean Garret..." she asked lowly but afraid of the answer.

 

"Think about it Iris, 5 years gave Onyx a long time to abuse the kid, I fear he's influencing the kid to talk, think, and be like him" Garret said grimly.

 

Iris didn't want to believe it, in fact, she dreaded the very thought but she knew the gorilla was right after she the chimps recent actions, showing personality traits that weren't his at all, Iris held her head starting to feel light headed she  then looked to see that the sun was near gone from the sky. "Shit!" she hissed under breath as she began to quickly climb back down the ladder"It's almost night I need to get back!" 

 

"No, Were going to the camp Grey established" Garrett growled grabbing her arm"This is your chance to help the tribe a little longer, were close let's just get this over with" he sounded frustrated.

 

" Garret if I don't go now they going to come looking for me! And if they see you!...." She grunted in frustration" Things aren't going well right now me disappearing isn't going to make it better...." she said she began to look at the sun and back to the gorilla in distress she then closed her eyes tightly and shrugged the male off her "Fine!" she said in frustration as she brought her eyes back to his.

 

"Your kind can't see in the dark so they're more likely going back to the village by now that and the others will notice if they're gone so now's a good time to look around it....but we have to do this quick..." she told him dead serious.

 

"Good, I was afraid I would do something drastic to get you to come with me" he spoke gruffly walking ahead from the fire station.

 

Iris tightens her grip on the handle of the machete and followed Garret in a huff.

 

* * *

 

 

" _Look over there"_ Garrett pointed at the base camp " _Do you see Grey?"_ he signed at Iris as he handed her the binoculars to enhance her vision.

 

Iris took them and began to look around the rocky terrain and so far she couldn't see any sign of life "No..." she said as she shook her head.

 

Iris then caught sight of the chimp Grey who looks like he was checking over things before they headed back to the village. 

 

" _Your eyes were fooling you Iris, they were hiding, be smart next time"_ he pointed at his head motioning the word smart.

 

Iris rolled her eyes at this but then flinched when she heard the scream making herself lower down behind the rocks but still watching the scene ahead.  

 

The group stiffened to hear the scream, Chimp's and Gorillas with Orangutans flooded out of the hut's in alert two chimps dragged a familiar woman in the orange shirt to their leader Iris widened in shock when she saw who it was.

 

"Why did Carley come here?" Garrett scratched his chin questioning himself.

 

Iris saw the chimps shove Carley down in the mud forcing her to look up Grey in the flesh.

 

"Where is the rest of your group?" He lowered down eyeing Carley, the only response he got was a spit in the eye.

 

Iris was right when she said this girl was like her and because of that she knew this girl would piss them off very soon and probably end with her having spear stabbed into her chest.

 

"Dammit they'll kill her..." she hissed quietly.

 

Grey wiped his eye staring at the Human with no emotion " _break her nose"_ he simply signed" _Maybe she'll answer after losing some blood and tie her up"_ he ordered retreating to his hut.

 

She began to try to sneak her way over there "No!" Garret grabbed her by the scruff of her neck.

 

"Your an idiot if you go in suicidal" He pulled out a handful of arrows from his sack "We improvise" he said tactfully.

 

Iris turned to glare at him "How!?" she spat at him.

 

He pulled out a lighter flickering it heating the arrow "you see those barrels, that's how you improvise" Garrett scowled pulling out the makeshift bow. He placed the arrow in carefully heating the steel tip adding spits of flame then aimed and shot them at the camp. The barrel's instantly exploded burning some apes near them, Carley looked up in surprise. Grey exited his hut in fury to find out what happened he looked upon in shock to see fire destroying the camp, ape screeches and hoots could be heard as they rushed around to control the blaze.

 

"Let Grey do his part and then we'll save her" Garrett waved at Iris.

 

"Who did this!!!" Grey howled witnessing him the destruction, he went to help the others put the fire out, with them distracted Iris snuck her way over to Carley as the flames hid her from sight. She took out the machete and began to cut the ropes "You just love getting yourself into situations don't you girly" she sarcastically as she cut.

 

"Your such a sad excuse of waste" Carley spat at her face.

 

"I've been called worse than that now com'on" she told her authoritatively as she boasted her up by her arm roughly and dragged her out of the camp.

 

Carley all of sudden pushed her down "Hey She's the one you're looking for!! " She shouted bolting into the forest "Nothing personal cunt!" Carley shouted disappearing into the woods.

 

Iris moved some lose hair or her face as she watched the girl that sold them out take off" I would say I'm surprised by what she did but that would be a lie" She growled under breath as she stood back up with Garret's help" I already knew the girl was a little shit..."

 

"People do desperate things to survive Iris" he grasped her hand pulling her up "Now let's run like hell" he said.

 

He didn't have to tell her twice as she ran through the trees, while she was angry with Carley she honestly didn't hate her, She so used to the killing, backstabbing, and stealing by her own kind over the years that it made her numb.

 

"Now they won't find us right now" Garrett panted laying on the ground resting near a tree "You'll be almost home soon" Garrett spoke again.

 

The brunette nodded in thanks as she handed the machete back to him she then made her way through the now dark woods sore and emotionally exhausted replaying the day's events in her mind. She then saw a fire coming towards her it looked like a torch then a familiar gorilla appeared.

 

 

"Luca..." Iris replied weakly.

 

She held a hand above her eyes due to the brightness of the flame.

 

"What're you doing here?" She asked while covering her eyes from torches bright light.

 

Luca looked at her sternly and his eyes widen a bit when he saw bruising near her eye and chin.

 

_"I could ask you the same thing, what happened to your Iris"_ he signed to her demanding an answer. She touched her sore chin at this " I went rock climbing and fell off...I'm fine" she said as she walked passed him only for him to grab her arm "I know what you been up to..." he said seriously.

 

" _You snuck off with a Gorilla, who is he?"_ He signed.

 

Iris looked at the hand holding her arm and then back to him" He's helping me with something Luca..." she said as she gently took his hand off her arm" Something important" she told him sincerely.

 

He frowned at her " _Why are you protecting him?"_ he signed.

 

She sighed deeply " Trust me Luca he's not the one you should be worried about there are bigger problems going right now..." she told dryly.

 

"I suspect something is going on but I don't have enough proof yet" she explained to him, making him huff deeply.

 

" _We have a guest at the tribe.. an ape came, then another a human, it's getting chaotic there"_ Luca signed.

 

_"I find the Ape..strange, he claims to be a worshipper of the sun"_ Luca signed.

 

Her brow raised at this as he led her back to the village.

 

Her face fell to confusion at this "Worshipper for the son..." she said perplexed.

 

" _He calls himself Helios, he believes we all should praise the sun stupid crap, He just some sun-loving priest"_ Luca signed.

 

"Great a crazy...." she said under her breath.

 

" _Be careful around him he already set up his small totem of the sun and he was giving a hut to sleep in"_ Luca warned as he and Iris were close to the gate.

 

" Did the human come here with Malcolm?" she asked.

 

" _Caesar didn't tell me, he wanted you to know yourself_ " he signed.

 

They both can hear chanting, one the apes near the gate soon caught sight of them causing them to go tell Caesar.

 

A red Gorilla appeared on top of the gate peered down at Luca and Iris his whole body was in tribal paint with insignias of the sun "Praise the all Sun!, Your safe sister of Caesar, your brother has been expecting you" he bowed respectfully to her.

 

Iris was quite taken back by this, the gate slowly opened " _like I said_ " Luca signed.

 

"Yea...." she said as she brought herself closer to Luca while still eyeing the religious nut. 

 

 

Luca wrapped a hand around her shoulder holding her close but not to tight "Stick close" he whispered.

 

"Here my dear child, your friend wanted to give you this" Helios smiled offering a small wrapped package.

 

Iris looked at him a little nervously, while he hadn't done anything to hurt her she couldn't help shake this bad vibe she was getting from him "My friend?..." she asked emotionless.

 

"The one with a broken tooth, he asked me to give you this my child" he spoke.

 

She hesitantly took it from his hand and put it in her pocket "Thank you...I would like to talk more but I need to go see Caesar now" Iris said wanting to get away from him quickly.

 

"May the sun bathe you in warm glow my child" he smiled bowing in respect.

 

Luca sensing her discomfort gently dragged her away from as he led her away "I got you" Luca whispered escorting her safely.

 

"Luca something isn't right about him..." she told him quietly as they made their way up the wooden stairs.

 

"He's a priest...they always don't seem right" he spoke.

 

 

"No...no it's something else...there's something about him..." she said as she as she looked at Helios slightly, he stared deeply at her smiling waving his hand at her.

 

" _You need rest but you have to talk to Caesar first" Luca signed._

 

She nodded in response before she quickly went up the steps not wanting to be in the new gorilla's plain of sight.

 

* * *

 

 

Mikey stared hard at the meeting happening right now away from him, never did he thought that another human knew Caesar Or that he would smile so warmly at her, he remembered his face turning from shock, disbelief and then joy when he first saw the human woman and then went over to hug her tightly. She sat next to the humans Malcolm and Ellie and was talking with Caesar, she appeared to be middle-aged and Indian as the chimp looked her over then all of the sudden Iris came onto the scene bringing all the attention onto her.

 

"Iris" he whispered seeing her safe.

 

" Caesar before you say anything-" the young woman then immediately cut her self off and her eyes widen in complete disbelief when she caught sight of the woman.

 

"There you are it's been too long" the woman smiled in her seat.

 

Iris could feel a tear run down one of her unblinking eyes as she slowly but hesitantly made her way over to her "Caroline...." her voice trembled.

 

"It's been so long how many years has it been?" The older woman gave a sad chuckle raising up from her seat opening her arms.

 

"9 years..." Iris replied quietly, she could now feel tears stream down her eyes no longer being able to hold it in "Mom!" the younger woman said as she rushed over to her and wrapped her arms tightly around the older woman.

 

"Mom..." Mikey whispered clutching onto the cage bars.

 

"Hello sweetheart..." she told her softly as she held the younger girl who now towered over her slightly close.

 

"I thought you were dead..." Iris sobbed into her shoulder, breathing in the scent of her hair trying to reassure herself that Caroline was really here.

 

"Iris" Caesar spoke getting the girl's attention "We have much to discuss..." his voice indicated serious tense.

 

She pulled away from the older woman to look at him not before she wiped her face "Caesar if it's about today-

 

He motioned his hand for her to stop, he snapped his fingers motioning Lake to bring him a cloth wrapped in blood.

 

 

_"I'm so sorry Iris"_ Lake signed sadly.

 

Iris took the cloth from Lake slowly as she eyed it carefully"What's going on?.." she asked seriously.

 

"Why didn't you mention you were pregnant..." Caesar spoke with tired eyes.

 

Mikey became icy tensed hearing the last word that came out of his leader's mouth.

 

Iris looked at him dumbfounded at this but then started to laugh hysterically confusing the apes and the humans "Pregnant I'm not pregnant!" she said as she laughed.

 

"It's not a lie Iris" Lake spoke seriously showing her the blood-stained cloth.

 

"What does this cloth have to do with anything?" she asked as she chuckled.

 

"You think this is a joke!" Cesear slammed his fist down causing everyone to flinch.

 

"Caesar..." Cornelia spoke softly as she rubbed his shoulder.

 

 

"Yea I kind of do considered I've never been with a man before in my life!" she frowned at him" I mean the only one I've been with is!- It was then she froze in realization making her turn her head towards Mikey with eyes wide in disbelief.  Mikey retreated away from the bars cushioning himself close to the rock wall burying his face in his hands.

 

"T-that can't be... it's biologically impossible..." she stuttered as turned her gaze back to Caesar.

 

"That's what I thought until Lake found your cloth and gave it to Ellie to inspect because she was worried that you were sick... "

 

 

"I looked at your blood Iris you are pregnant..." Ellie told her seriously.

 

" _You will be the first to have a hybrid child..."_ Lake signed.

 

 

Iris didn't know how to take all this as she looked at them with shock.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DunDunDun ! So here you guys are a new chapter sorry it took me forever I only recently got down with school and I didn't have inspiration for the longest time but I'm back now ^^ I would like to thank my good friend Marianof cintra for helping with this chapter and for letting me use her characters Mikey, Carley, Helios, and Garret  she awesome :) You can see more of them in her POTA story New York Becomes Ape well I hope you enjoyed it ^^


	32. The Impossible Has Been Achieved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris has a lot of stress....

Iris held her head in her hand as she bent over in the chair, the cold air began to nip at the back of her neck.

 

"Iris the baby you where carrying...was it the one that..." The man tried to say carefully.

 

Iris brought her gaze up to look at him emotionless.

* * *

 

 

**Ape Village, 3 years ago**

 

Iris sat on the log as she held her head with hair hanging down on her face, she was still trying to process that she carrying a life inside her, a hybrid for that matter. She barely paid attention to the humans and apes discussing intensely about her very predicament.

 

She felt a leathery hand grasped hers " _Are you ok?"_ She snapped out her daze to see Cornelia eyes filled with concern.

 

"Not really..no...I can't believe I'm pregnant..." She said hoarsly. She licked her chapped lips"I never..." she struggled to say words"I never planned on having childern..." she said quietly as she rested her hand against her abdomen.

 

"What am I going to do...God what am I going to do... " Iris said under her breath.

 

"Talk to Mikey..see what he thinks... about this situation" Blue Eyes said.

 

The young woman slowly turned her gaze into the direction of where the chimp was being held, she then sighed deeply and turned her gaze back to the Prince "Sweetheart...Mikey and I...have..." She tried to put it delicately" Problems...we are not stable enough to be parents" she told him softy while looking him with sad eyes.

 

" _He heard the whole thing he's been devastated_ " Blue Eyes signed motioning his hand towards Mikey in the cage who was covering his face his shoulder's were shaking and he was sobbing but quietly.

 

"Fuck..." Iris said said under breath as she ran a hand through her hair. "What does your father say about this..." She asked while looking at Mikey in the corner of her eye.

 

"He and the council..are heated and your mother is...trying to get them calm" he explained.

 

" _But we don't know what to do with Mikey, his fate is up to Caesar's hands"_

 

" _Zane's here children..why is he here?"_ Cornelia signed confused about the ape returning.

 

Iris popped up her head when she saw her friend"So...you've heard..." Iris said quietly.

 

Zane eyed her up and down _"I never thought you'd stoop low for a murderer"_ he glared at her " we found an intruder..." he commented taking his seat.

 

Iris frowned at this"What do you mean intruder?..."

 

"Get off me you goddamn Apes!" Carley's familiar voice screeched trying to wrestle out of Luca's hold.

 

"Seriously that bitch again"Iris hissed under her breath as she quickly got up and went over to were the other female was.

 

"I'll murder every one of you sons of bitches in this Stronghold, to escape!" She screeched kicking Luca's stomach the Gorilla was becoming irritated.

 

Iris marched right over to Carly and punched her hard in the jaw making the other woman howl in pain "Jesus Christ the cunt is back!" Carley slurred.

 

"Well you deserved that after all the trouble you gave me earlier!" she yelled enraged at her.

 

"Why are you everywhere just die!" Carley still not shutting up so Luca switched her around headbutted her.

 

"Trust me girly many have tried including myself mind telling how you keep getting yourself in trouble.." she asked her sternly.

 

"Who are you?" Caesar growled not interested in this human girl's behavior.

 

Carley looked up holding her forehead groaning "I made a deal with that white ape who said he could get gas and new parts for my car if I would lead her to him so he could kill her."

 

Iris just stared at her wide eyed knowing how to responsed.

 

Caesar got up dangerously close to her space "What did you say" he spoke dangerously low.

 

"Caesar calm down others wanting me dead is no news to me" She raised her voice while face remained calm.

 

"I said I could've lead her into a trap so I could get my supplies and get out of this hellhole" she explained seething with hatred "I was trying to escape off the cost til one of your" She sniffed in disgust "Your smelly Gorillas grabbed me like he's Tarzan."

 

Iris walked slowly over to Carley, staring her down hard. She then grabbed her injured chin roughly and made the short haired girl look her in the eye"Carley you have to be the stupidest fucking person I've ever met and believe me I've met a lot of stupid people..." she told her seriously.

 

"I'm not here to kiss you" she spat "I'm surviving same as everyone out there, and I would shoot you if it that means Survival" she was held down on the ground by Luca.

 

"She's starting...to piss me off" Luca growled.

 

"It's funny humans who try to envade here are usually trying to kill my brother...but you haven't come here to kill him but me..." Iris said as she searched the depth of her soul, the hazel eyes woman glared at her" do you think you can kill me girly?..."

 

"With the right set of tools I could" she smirked, The apes started to screech and hoot all around them.

 

Iris stared at her hard for a few seconds before speaking up"Alright then...how about I make a deal with you..."

 

"I have friends who can give you gas for your vehicle...if I give it to you will you leave this viallge alone?...and leave this forest?.." Iris asked seriously.

 

"I tricked you once how do I know your not gonna trick me?" she said questionably.

 

Iris lowered herself to the ground to the short-haired girl's level" Because girly I'm the only thing standing between you getting your head bashed in or making out alive...or would you rather fight me..." Iris told her deathly serious"Because I went easy on you in the forest Carley...I've killed more people then you can count...most of them ponting guns at me..." she told her with a no nonsense tone.

 

Carley stared at her with her blank Poker stare before smiling "I rather be your prisoner for the time being, I like to see how this all plays out." She answered.

 

Iris just stared at her emotionless for a few seconds"Try to keep you mouth shut girl there's many here that would tare out your tounge..." the brunette said as she got up and looked at Luca. " _Trust me she gives me a headache too..but try not to actually tare out her tounge"_ she signed to him.

 

"No Promises..." he growled tying her hands and feet into rope bonds.

 

"~Jury has found me guilty sir, For life, I sentence you across the stormy sea..I have no chance of Mischief there, Remember what I say they'll flog you before you, Out there in Botany bay" Carley sang her grandpa's favorite song as she was above Luca's shoulder.

 

Iris then turned away from her but stopped in front of Zane"necesito hablar contigo..."She placed a hand on her her lower stomach"Sobre algo importante..." She told him solemnly. (i need to talk to you...about something important)

 

Zane looked surprised at this but had a pretty good idea what it was about the other apes and humans looked at them in confusion to her speaking a different language.

 

Zane huffed deeply at her.

 

" _Let's talk somewhere private"_ Zane slowly signed only getting her attention.

 

"Iris where...are you going?.." Blue eyes asked her.

 

"I'll be back" was all she said not even turning around as she left with Zane, he followed behind her quick as he could.

 

Zane followed Iris across the viallge until she they found abandoned fire pit in a cave and they decided to sit down.

 

" _What did you want to talk about Iris?_ " Zane signed.

 

Iris sighed deeply as she ran a hand through her hair"I-I know your angry...and you have every right to be...what I did was fucking stupid..." she said as she leaned over to hold her head "But I want to talk to you about is..." she placed her her hand on top of her abdomen"this child..." she said softly.

 

She gulped and closed her eyes "W-ould you...would you and Opal...b-be willing to raise this child..." Iris struggled to asked him as a tear ran down her eye.

 

Zane looked at her shocked.

 

"I-its like you said Zane.." she brought up her head to look at him"Mikey and I are both broken...how can we...how can I possibly raise a child speacily when others want to kill me.." Iris voice trembled.

 

"Especially if there are others that want to kill your child as well" Garrett spoke out leaning beside the entrance.

 

Iris spun around to face the gorilla while Zane growled at him and quickly putting Iris behind him protectively.

 

"Zane, still the same but you've definitely grown" Garrett grumbled.

 

Zane just bared his teeth at him" _How did you get in here Garret?"_ Zane signed to him furiously.

 

"I have my ways, you think your the only ones that know about these caves, your wrong I know small doorways and entrances that span everywhere on the mountain" Garrett explained "I'm here to protect Iris and her family from Onyx and his group."

 

Zane flinched when the sadistic chimp was mentioned.

 

"Garret...he's right you shouldn't be here" Iris told him softly"Things are crazy right now..." she looked at him with emotionally drained eyes.

 

"I'm staying out of sight at the moment, your brothers guards can never catch me" he waved her off.

 

"Oh and Zane let's talk in private I need to discuss our plan with you, and Iris...If it helps congratulations on your pregnancy, if it's any better" Garrett went through the tunnels escaping from Iris and Zane's eyes.

 

"I think your the only one to congratulate me.." Iris said under her breath.

 

She then turned back bonobo behind her"Would you and Opal be wiling to it do it Zane..." She looked at Zane with said dads getting back the topic on hand.

 

Zane looked at her with sad eyes"Iris you...have to give..up your child..." he told her gruffly.

 

Little did they know a certain someone had followed them from the council meeting and listening in from outside the cave. "What kind of life could my child possibly have with me Zane!" she raised her voice in fustration.

 

Blue eyes peeked inside watching the young woman and the bonobo.

 

_"A better life with your family your child will be protected by Caesar and Luca."_

 

"Didn't you hear that woman Zane...someone in this village wants me dead" she said while staring at him hard as she pointed out the cave.

 

" _She's desperate you saw it in her eyes she was willing to backstab anyone to save her own skin"_ Zane pointed out.

 

"Yea I know from experience" Iris scoffed at this recalling her encounter with her.

 

" _The point is I can't place this on my wife and child, we are already getting off our feet to help this tribe"_

 

Guilt fell upon Iris at this as she everted her eyes to the ground" I sorry...I s-shouldn't have asked...it was selfish... " she ran both her hands through her long hair and held her head with both them holding head as she paced around in the cave"What am I going to...what am I going to..." she kept repeating quietly.

 

A rock fell from above with distant muttering could be heard from up top.

 

"What the fuck!"Iris jumped back in surprised and looked up to see what was there.

 

Iris kept her gaze up as she slowly backed up"I don't know..." she said as she placed her hand on his shoulder"But I think we should leave.."

 

"It's another ape.." Zane commented _"I got a bit of his scent"_ he then growled.

 

"Let's go I don't know how much they heard but I don't want them to hear anymore..." Iris said as she dragged Zane out of the cave causing them to bump into Blue Eyes.

 

"Blue what are you doing here?" Iris said in surprise.

 

 _"I heard you"_ Blue Eyes signed.

 

Iris rubbed her eyes at this"You heard everything didn't you..." she asked weakly.

 

Blue Eyes crossed his arms in a serious matter glaring at Iris.

 

"Blue...it's complicated" she said as she held her head.

 

"How is it complicated I can handle it, I know what I'm doing, just let me help you" he signed in frustration.

 

Iris gripped her hair tightly while looking towards the dawn"A-after...after your father and I separated...things...things happened" she tried to control her breathing.

 

Zane was started to become worried for his human friend due her seeing act like this before, it usually happen before she had a episode "Bad things...B-bad humans...and apes...did" she squinted as she struggled to talk" did horrible things to me...m-made me do horrible things..." She could feel her heart beat speed up.

 

"Iris look at me...look at me..." Blue Eyes spoke "Your fine...I'm here...please don't have...another episode.." he spoke cupping her face in his hands making her open her eyes.

 

Her eyes filled with sorrow"I-I'm...I'm just trying to think what's best for my child..." she choked on her words.

 

"That Woman is...trapped she's inside... her cage there's no... way she'll get you.."

 

She just looked at him with tired eyes" it's not her I'm worried about sweetheart..." She said grimly.

 

"Than what is it?" Blue Eyes asked.

 

Iris started to feel dizzy.

 

Zane looked at her in deep concern at this"Iris...I think you need to rest" he said as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

 

Both Blue Eyes and him help her walk over to find a place for the brunette to calm down, they found a spot under a tree she sat down as she tried to take calm breaths as she leaned against it feeling the bark on the back of her head as she closed her eyes.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here It is another chapter :D yea It kind of short but it all could come up with during this time...^^¿ I would like to thank my good friend marianofcintra for helping me and letting me use her character Carley she awesome you should check her story New York Becomes Ape:D and my other Good friend lilxblue who supportive you should check her story simian forest ^^ well I hope you enjoyed


	33. A Way to Forget

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris hullicinates...

"This new ape Helios was it? You said he freaked you out...how exactly?" The man asked becoming a little interested.

 

 

 

Iris ran a hand through her hair as scoffed "Well for one he acted like a religious nut job...I don't really how to discribe it you would have to meet him to understand what I mean...the vibe coming off him wasn't normal..." She said emotionless.

 

 

 

Her eyes then frowned hard as her hand onn her leg clenched tight. " I had every right to suspicious of him...if I knew what he what be envoled in months later I would have killed him then and there..." Iris said deathly calm but the man could see she was holding back some rage but was also confused when he saw a tear run down her eye.

 

* * *

 

 

**Ape village, 3 years ago**

 

 

 

 

 

 Iris sat near the waterfall in the village as she tried to deal with the emotional turmoil she been going through. It had been two weeks since Mikey had been imprisoned , two weeks since she found out her step mom was still alive, 2 weeks since Carely tried to kill her, two weeks since she found out someone in this village wants her dead, and two weeks since she found out she was pregnant... Caesar had been keeping her pregnancy on the down low knowing how fast things would go down hill if they find who the baby's father was...while some did respect her for being their King's sister and for what's she's done helping them with the wolves and the bodies but other still held disdain for her...so much so they wanted her dead....so she couldn't comprehend what they would do if they found out she was carrying a ape hybrid which made her worry more, she could handle some trying to kill her alone but now it was different cause she had a life inside her.

 

 

 

She had her hands tightened in her brunette locks with her head resting against her bent knee while she was breathing deeply. " Sweetheart...it will be ok " She could hear her father.

 

 

 

 

She brought her head up to look up the hallucination. "How do you know?...how can you possibly know Dad?..." she said as stood up to glare at the imaginary firgure.

 

 

 

" You said that 9 years ago too but looked what happened! People got sick and died, riots broke out, militia formed, people where murdered or nabbed..." Iris raised her voice the last part most personal to her" and you ended getting shot with me having to bury you in the backyard!" Iris said with her voice breaking. 

 

 

 

Her father just stated at her sadly.

 

 

 

Iris could feel sadness overwhelme her as well "I don't want to leave my child like- Iris cut herself when she realized someone had appeared she froze but then turned to see the last ape she ever wanted to catch her....Helios. Iris shock disappeared as she quickly made her face blank and wiped her face of tears.

 

 

 

" How long were you standing there" she asked the gorilla curtly and firmly.

 

 

 

"Enough to know what your going through my Daughter" he answered.

 

 

 

"I don't know what your taking about..." Iris tried to snug him off and walk past him only for the male to grab her arm halting her.

 

 

 

"You are suffering from a form of Psychosis aren't you? The voices in your head can't seem to go away" he said staring into her eyes.

 

 

 

Her eyes widen slightly but but then realized he was still holding her arm" More like ghosts from the past..." she grumbled as she roughly yanked her arm out his grip.

 

 

" Never thought a religious zealous as you would even use the word psychosis" Iris said as she tried to walk off again not feeling comfortable being alone with him.

 

 

 

"I know your hurting my daughter, I like to help you even if it doesn't require praying I believe I can help with your ghosts, If you want it" Helios smiled.

 

 

 

She paused for few seconds when he said this then turned around to frownat him" Really how?" She asked as she crossed her arms as her hazel eyes stared at him with scrutiny.

 

 

 

"Would you kindly follow me this herb I will share won't give you addiction's or negative effects on your well-being..think of it as a sleep inducer" he offered his hand to her hoping she'll grasped it.

 

 

 

Iris all sudden felt very calm and slowly took his hand when he said this even though her insides were screaming at her to tell him off and run, Helios smiled when her hand was placed in his huge one.

 

 

 

"It won't take long Sister of our beloved Caesar" he bowed his head taking her to his humble shrine.

 

 

 

 

He took the dazed young woman through a more isolated part of the village, alarm bells were going through Iris's head as kept yelling internally to snap out of it.

 

 

 

 

He placed her in front of his Altar inscribed with Sun symbols as he brought out a bowl and pestal for his mixing "Would you kindly sit and relax my daughter?" he asked fishing into his sack for the herbs and like she was told she went over slowly to sit in front his alter.

 

 

 

Her eyes watched him as he moved around and gathered things, Iris was becoming freaked out and trembled slightly but she still couldn't move for the life of her.

 

 

He fished out a water jug taking the cap off pouring in the bowl while placing it on the small cloth table, he fished out the purple leaves crunching them down to small flakes pouring the flakes into the bowl "It'll be almost ready my daughter" he spoke.

 

 

 

Iris was using every fiber of her being to try to move and by some stir will power she was able to a bit, Helios was caught off gaurd when he noticed Iris was moving and trying to sit up.

 

 

 

"Would you kindly relax my daughter it's almost ready" he said turning his to look at her he was almost finished with the herbs.

 

" What...did...you...do..to...me..." She struggled to say.

 

 

 

"You asked for my help and I'm giving it to you" he simply answered handling the bowl to her "Would you kindly take a sip you'll be asleep for awhile" he said flexing his fingers emphasizing the word sleep.

 

 

 

Iris took the bowl shakely while she had a mental war with her body, she knew Helios had something sinister planned and when he said it would make her" sleep for awhile" it struck fear in her soul. She slowly began to drink the bitter liquid in the bowl after a couple sips her grip loosened making her drop it and she could feel herself lower to ground on her side.

 

 

 

 

"Now sleep Sister of Caesar" Helios's voice echoed in her ears.

 

 

 

It was like the world was spinning with her body feeling very heavy as she looked up the at the sky in a unblinking gaze not noticing what Helios was doing next. Iris saw a figure looming over her it was fuzzy at first but then it clear out to reveal a dark furred chimp with light golden eyes making her eyes widen but then tears of joy came out" M-moon.." she said she shakely as she reached out to touch the side of his face not knowing it wasn't deceased husband but infact Helios. 

 

 

 

" I missed you so much...." she said softly as she stared up at him to lost in her in world to notice the gorilla raising his hand  with a knife in his grip.

 

 

 

 

"It's going to be over soon..." Helios whispered carresing her cheek with the knife.

 

 

 

 

But just then the gorilla paused when he heard footsteps coming over to area making him scramble to hide the knife and turn to see the oldest Prince and captain of the Gorilla Gaurd.

 

 

 

"Welcome to my chapel your highness, it is an honor that your here with your respected soldier" Helios smiled bowing his head.

 

 

 

 

Blue eyes looked at him and then saw Iris laying on dirt unmoving in dazed state, his eyes widen making brush past him to go to the young woman's side, cradling her face as her checked her over in deep concern.

 

 

 

 

 " What's wrong..with her?!" Blue eyes spoke as he turn his gaze away from his aunt to Helios,  Luca had the same reaction as well with a couple other emotions when he looked between Iris and Helios.

 

 

 

 

"She wanted healing and sleep, I gave her herbs to relief her symptoms."

 

 

 

The silverback didn't by that for one minute, he like Iris had a bad feeling about the gorilla since day one and now finding Iris in the state she was in just proved him right. Blue Eyes put one arm under Iris's back, another under her legs and then picked her up.

 

 

 

Luca glared at Helios.

 

 

 

 " I dont...know what...you have... done to...her or...what you planned...on doing..to her...but Caesar will..hear of this..." He told the other gorilla very low as Blue Eyes walked past him with Iris, Luca glared at him for a few more seconds before turn around to follow the Prince.

 

 

 

 

"Would you kindly hear what I have to say" he spoke.

 

 

 

 

Blue eyes was already gone but Luca had stopped and turned around to look at him.

 

 

 

"Would you kindly listen to my orders?" Helios smiled his intellect was vastly strong taking ahold of Luca.

 

 

 

 

"Yes..." was all the gorilla said. 

 

 

Helios was couldn't help be nervous about Blue Eyes though, he knew once he talked to his father and showed him Iris's condition he knew no doubt the king would angry which will end him being questioned by Caesar and mostly reprimanded  "I want you to defend me... my reasons...luckily the herbs will make Iris forget what happened to her she'll only remember she had a good night's sleep I want you to guard her especially in her sleep when the time is right strangle her now.. would you kindly do that?" Helios commanded he needs this to die down fast he can't risk everything to be destroyed right now he needs a little bit more time, just a little bit of time.

 

 

 

Luca nodded and then headed off in the direction of where the blue eyed ape went. The red gorilla did the Same thing to the blue eyed ape once they caught up to him.

 

 

 

Looking straight into Caesar son's eyes could give him the advantage he can't keep saying the same word but indirectly moving his fingers can help him grasp Blue Eyes in his hold very easy as long as he keeps his hold on the two "Now we improvise" Helios whispered following Luca close.

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Caesar was holding his head and sitting with his wife, Cornelia stroked his face and fur well looking at him with warm eyes, with eveything that's been happening recently her calming prescene really helped him with overwhelmingly stress. 

 

 

 

" _What is your worried about? I think you would be happy to see you mother again"_ she signed to her husband.

 

 

 

 While he does admit he was completely shock that Caroline was still alive but he was also overjoyed. He remembered he almost forgot to breathe when he saw dark haired woman only to go up to her and embrace her seconds later.

 

 

 

 

" Its not that...." he said quietly.

 

 

 

 Cornelia raised a eyebrow " _So it's Iris then....Her being a pregnant is not a bad thing Caesar..._ " the queen signed sternly.

 

 

 

Caesar was about to respond when he saw Blue Eyes coming in carrying a limp Iris along with Luca and Helios coming up from behind him. Caesar rose from his seat with deep concern on his face as he made his way over to his son.

 

 

 

 

" _What's wrong with her?"_ Cornelia signed to her son as she looked at him then the young woman with worry on your face.

 

 

 

 

Caesar moved Iris hair out her face to see her half-lidded dazed look he brought his gaze to look at Luca, Helios, and his son. " What happened?..." he  demanded as he frowned hard at them.

 

 

 

Helios spoke first "My King and Queen Iris is asleep due to eating the herbs in my pack, I hope it won't worry they're used to treat symptoms and let individuals sleep peacefully, my prince is it alright if you explain the rest?" The red gorilla spoke in concern allowing the young chimp see his gaze indirectly twitching his fingers.

 

 

 

 

Blue Eyes nodded agreeing quickly at his response" He was...trying to help Iris...she was hallucinating.." He told his father sincerely.

 

 

 

 

"I didn't want to keep this under your noses your highnesses because I worry if she trys to grab more in my pack I don't want her to rely on herbs too much" Helios spoke sounding concerned his fingers twitched slightly.

 

 

 

" _It seemed like she was trying to do anything to forget Caesar..."_ Luca signed to his king. 

 

 

 

Caesar closed his eyes deep in thought...he didn't know what to believe he knew his son and Luca would never lie to him but he also knew Iris would never ever do something that might endanger a child and inculding her own but with all her inner demons and trauma he wasn't so so sure. " Take her to Tinker...and see if my mother is there...she will probably help...Luca keep a eye on her" The king said softly. Luca and Blue eyes nodded before leaving and Helios started to leave thanking his god inside for not getting caught.

 

 

 

"My King with your permission allow me to bring blessings to the ape in prison even the sun should extend it's Ray's to others" Helios bowed respectfully he needed to do one favor for Onyx and this was risky.

 

 

 

Caesar looked at him and huffed deeply, he wasn't really sure about Helios yet but he could tell their was something not right about him and had nothing to do with his belief, what he just gave Iris didn't make just heightened his suspicions but he hasnt shown any violent tendancies and gone against the laws so the king couldn't judge him unfairly just on his opinion. 

 

 

 

" Alright..." Caesar agreed"but I'll have to warmln you he just recently became stable..."he warned him.

 

 

 

" It also would be best if you didnt mention about what happened with Iris today with him..." The king continued to warn him knowing madly in love the young chimp was with his sister and most likely would snap if he knew Iris condition speacily since she was carrying his baby.

 

 

 

"Understood your majesty" With that he walked off to see Mikey, Caesar watched him go still having a feeling in gut there was something suspicious about him.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Mikey in the corner of his prison with his him holding his legs tightly to his chest, tremdous feelings of guilt filled as he replayed everything he had done 2 weeks ago. Not to mention he was still was trying get through his that he was going to be a father, he like Iris didn't believe it was possible for it to happen but it did and now both them has become most the talk and arguments of the council.

 

 

 

 

He hasn't seen Iris in the last 2 weeks and frankly he wasn't surprised after everything has happened he could only imagine what the young woman was going through. He then heard someone come up to his cage and talk to Spear who was his gaurd at the moment he looked up to see it was the new gorilla Helios making him raise a brow in confusion to see him.

 

 

 

" Helios?...why you...here?..." Spear asked him as he came closer.

 

 

 

 

"I'm here to offer my blessings to young one Mikey" Helios smiled twitching his fingers.

 

 

 

Spear suddenly became relaxed and moved out the way so Helios could get closer, Mikey was completely confused.

 

 

 

 " Why are you here Helios?..." he asked curiously and attention then turned to his gaurd "What's wrong with Spear?" 

 

 

 

 

"Spear is relaxing my son, right now I have a message from your master" Helios smiled turning his head towards Spear "Would you kindly guard the entrance and let me know if someone is coming" the red gorilla asked.

 

 

 

Spear just nodded quietly as he walked off making the chimp shocked that that his gaurd listen to the gorilla and left with out protest or question, Mikey was becoming a little catious at this and he didn't like it when the gorilla said "master" " What are...you talking about Helios?" Mikey frowned hard at him.

 

 

 

Helios went up close to the bars "Onyx ... he's waiting for you and Iris..." Helios whispered quietly only letting Mikey hear.

 

 

 

Mikey eyes widen and felt his blood run cold at this he then glared and bared his teeth at Helios" If he touches her!....if you touch her!" he growled at him.

 

 

 

"Silence your mouth boy" Helios twitched his fingers looking straight into Mikey's eye's and like that all emotion voided from Mikey's face and he became quiet making the gorilla smile.

 

 

 

"Your orders are followed, take this knife and hide it in a crevice or hole when the time comes use it well Protoge of Onyx" Helios chuckled handing the military knife in Mikey's hand.

 

 

The dazed chimp slowly his hands out from the bars to grab the knife and then brought it back into the cage with him.

 

 

 

"Now sleep apprentice of Onyx" Helios commanded turning around to exit the cave turning his head looking at spear "You will forget what you saw here" the red gorilla said viciously snapping his fingers.

 

 

 

Mikey fell unconcious on the side of the cage making Helios smirk as he turned around and walked off with a sbut in the back of his mind he couldn't help but be nervous what will happen once Iris woke up recalling how she was able to break from his hold for a little bit, he  knew she has a strong will of steel.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Iris woke groggy while holdinher head, she groaned as she open eyes to see burly figures talking a couple around her. " Do you know what exactly he gave her Caesar?" a soft voice asked, she regonized it as Caroline.

 

 

 

 

One the figures noticed the young woman was trying to sit up making them out a hand her should made gently lay back down, she looked to see it was Luca.

 

 

 

" What happened?..." Iris asked hoarsely, she looked around to see that she was the healing hut.

 

 

 

" You tell me Iris...from what your brother has been telling me you where found by Luca and Blue Eyes under the influence of a herb Helios gave you to help with your stress..." Caroline said told her.

 

 

This made Iris grown as she lowered herself gaze to the ground, the last thing she remembered was talk I g to Helios by the waterfall but the rest was blank.

 

 

 

" He also said you took more then you needed" Caroline crossed her arms as she stared at her adoptive daughter" Iris were you trying to get high?" Caroline asked her very seriously.

 

 

 

The brunette looked completely bewildered at this.

 

 

 

Caesar frowned at his sister"Iris how could you...do something so irresponsible?" he lectured her.

 

 

 

This made Iris snap out her shock and look at him in disbelief.

 

 

 

 

" You actually believe I would do something like this?" She frowned at him hard making his gaze soften some what.

 

 

 

" You have been through so much Iris...sometimes you don't act like yourself...."he said carefully.

 

 

 

Iris got up quickly making her wobble" Ok I might be nuts but not not stupid! Speacily not enough to do drugs! " She raised her voice as she stared him down.

 

Caesar rubbed his brows in fustration" I didn't say Iris!" 

 

 

 

"You were implying it!" she spat back at him.

 

 

Caroline was becoming concerned" Alright you two calm-

 

 

 

"I saw your condition Iris!..." He raised his voice back to her" you looked the same like that one time 10 years ago" Spat at her, Iris eyes widen in shock knowing he was talking about true time she got drunk...the time he was in the shelter.

 

 

 

 

" Your pregnant Iris didn't you think of your child!"he shouted disappointed at her.

 

 

 

The argument was becoming very loud causing most apes outside to here. The tension of the hut became thick at this and all emotion fell off Iris's face as she looked at Caesar with very calm eyes.

 

 

 

" I am thinking of my baby Caesar...more then you could ever know...which is why I would never ever do what your accusing me of..." he expression then turned to sorrow" Do you honestly not trust me?...have I ever lied to you before?" she asked him her voice nearly breaking.

 

 

 

Caesar huffed deeply and closed his eyes, the brunette as she ran a hand through her hair in fustration.

 

 

 

" Your not Dad Caesar...stop trying to act like him" Iris said bluntly as a couple tears ran down her eyes.

 

 

Caesar looked at Iris bewildered while Caroline cover her mouth in sorrow.

 

 

 

" I'm not trying to be him..." Caesar replied.

 

 

 

" Yea....dad would have at least tried to listen to me..." Iris was all she said before she left the hut with Luca following after her living Caesar in the hut speechless making Caroline put a comforting hand on his shoulder as she hugged him from behind" She's just mad sweetheart....you both got pretty heated" She said softly to him.

 

 

 

While he knew that was true it didn't stop the guilt he was feeling for making his sister cry again.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Iris had been walking pretty quickly  for awhile then felt morning sickness overfill her making her her stumble lean next to a tree as she empty out her stomach contents while she slowly brought he knees to the ground as she began to cry. She had known Helios was planning on doing something to her which obviously got interrupted and somehow got her to agreed to those herbs because the was no way in he'll she would willingly take anything he offered her.

 

 

 

" Dammit!Dammit!" She yelled in a broken voice as she punched the dirt making the apes around look at her in confusion.

 

 

She then pulled herself being pulled up by Luca.

 

 

 

" _Let's go to my hut you need to rest"_ He signed to her.

 

 

He guided her back to his hut and helped her lay down on the furs that she was surprised he still had, she could feel herself nodding off.

 

 

 

Once him and Iris were alone and he saw she was getting tired a switch off in him of Helios earlier making him slowly bring his hand to her neck shakley trying to fight it. Iris eyes opened wide as she started to choke when she felt his leathery hand wrap tightly around her throat causing her to grab his arm with both her hands trying to push it off.

 

 

 

She looked up at him with disbelief and hurt" L-Luca..." She managed to gasp out as she choked her.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  This chapter for pretty heated with a whole bunch of characters  and what will happen to Iris. I would like to thank my good friend Marianofcintra for helping with this and for letting my use her character Helios she's awesome ^^ I hope you guys liked the chapter


	34. Eveyone Wants Her Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris has a lot enemies.....

The man looked surprised from the information of Captain of The Gorilla Guard tried to kill her.

 

" Helios did something to him...and Blue...couple other I found out...I didn't find out to later on..." Iris told him emotionless as she looked to the side.

 

The man leaned back in his chair" I just caught off gaurd...speacily considering he's your...

 

* * *

 

 

**Ape village, 3 years ago**

 

Iris looked at the gorilla in panic and disbelief as he kept making his grip tighter and tighter around her neck cutting off her air supply

 

" L-Luca*choke*w-what's wrong with you*choke" she manged to spit out.

 

His expression was different this time it was if he had trouble forming words he made soft grunts of desperation to speak his arms shook as he grasped around her throat tighter.

 

"Iiiiimm ssssoorrryy" he drawled out his voice sounded that of a zombie groaning Iris could see in his eyes he was in pain.

 

Iris knew this wasn't the gorilla she had become close to...she knew there was something terrible wrong with him but she also knew if stop him soon he would soon likely kill her she moved her hand around desperately and finally gasped on a bowl with water in it she quickly grabbed it and smashed it in his face along with the water.

 

Luca fumbled to the ground mumbling in gibberish looking up at Iris with terror in his eyes. He looked like he just woke up from a nightmare. Iris was breathing and gasping hard as she held her now sore throat trying to regain her breath while also instinctly holding her abdomen worried for her baby.

 

"I-im sorry" Luca groaned "It was Helios Iris...he did this" he fumbled trying to regain himself.

 

Iris could feel herself becoming sick from a mixture of morning sickness and flashbacks of when Onyx assaulted her she started to shake hard and then hurling violently on the ground making Luca panic making him go over to her but once he touched her back she flinched and her breathing became harder she was having panic attack as she curl up into ball Luca didn't know to do.

 

" _I'm so sorry Iris"_ he signed in desperation" _I felt trapped inside myself like a prison and I couldn't control what was happening to me."_

 

Luca did the only thing that came into his mind at the time and cradled her in his arms and held her gently while hooting softly in her ear. At first she struggled at bit but she felt the gorilla heart beat against her ear, her breathing then started to return to normal. Iris soon began to relax in his embrace making Luca sigh in relief But now also felt a little awkward, Iris had never been this close to him before other then that time when she hugged him during when she was having a nightmate, he hesitantly brought his large hand to slowly stroke her hair as breathed in her scent.

 

Iris face turned red when she felt him do this" Luca...are you ok?" she asked him.

 

"There you are" Garrett spoke interrupting the two's romantic bliss.

 

Iris quickly pulled away while Luca looked angry to see the deserter in general making him get up and growl at him while usig his body to block the brunette from his view.

 

"Calm yourself Luca I'm not here to kill your beloved princess" he waved his hand towards her.

 

Iris rolled her eyes at him as she got up and moved last Luca " Don't call princess Garrett cause I'm not even close to that."

 

" _Ok Joan of Arc, you got any brilliant ideas because your soldier's are slowly turning on you"_ he signed.

 

Iris shrugged" there's always been someone trying to kill me Garrett..." bringing a hand to her stomach" In the past it never bothered me cause I always found a way to handle it but now..."She looked down at stomach that will soon grow bigger" I got another life to worry about..." she said quietly.

 

"Than focus what's at stake, the Gorilla Helios he's done something to the soldier's they've been acting strange" he stated seriously.

 

Iris raised eyebrow at this "What do you mean?" she asked as she turned to Luca he was thinking the same thought as her if he wasn't the only one just how many were there.

 

" _Strange how?"_ Luca signed to the other gorilla.

 

"They're almost emotionless but still like statues they're not themselves, including the prince" Garrett explained.

 

Iris frowned on deep thought at this" Helios gave me something earlier today...some sort of drug...I think he was trying to do something to me...but I can't remeber it's all fuzzy" Iris said as she held her head.

 

"Whatever he did to you it has caused you memory loss."

 

Iris closed her eyes sadly" So he really wasn't there..." Iris said quietly almost broken-hearted, she could feel a tear run one her shut eyes.

 

Luca looked at Iris with concern when he saw this" What's...wrong Iris?" he asked gruffly.

 

" Nothing...I just saw someone I miss very much when he put me under..." Iris brushed as she quickly wiped her face.

 

Garret had a pretty good Idea who it was judging by her reaction, but he didn't want to bring it up right now.

 

" _We can try getting them wet_ " Luca signed to Garrett getting back on topic as much he wanted to know what happened to Iris while she was under he didn't want to pressure her.

 

"Wish I could've known sooner had to kill 3 before they could get me" Garrett cracked his knuckles.

 

Iris eyes widen at this so did Luca's" I _know you left this tribe but we have rules and you broke the most important one"_ Luca signed as he bared his teeth at him.

 

"Doesn't matter Luca it was them or me and I had to choose me" Garrett narrowed his eyes "Besides I'll be gone once this is finished."

 

Iris gently touched Luca's arm which calmed him down somewhat while she did agree with Luca it wasn't the apes fault that they attacked Garrett but she also knew they had a bigger problem to deal with" Finish doing what Garrett?" she asked.

 

"Isn't it obvious killing Helios" he crossed his arms.

 

" _Garrett if you do that they think it was Iris who had done it" Luca signed in enraged" Half of the village heard her arguing with her brother about him your already setting up her guilt_ " Luca signed as he got closer to him.

 

"Than how do we get rid of him he's already brainwashed half of the tribe including the prince?" Garrett huffed.

 

Luca huffed back in frustration" _I don't know ...but the council is already throwing for about Iris's pregnancy"_ the gorilla eyes became sad when he signed the last part but then quickly shook off.

 

" _Keep a eye on him for now...but don't don't do anything rash until needed"_ He signed to him, as much he didn't trust the other gorilla they need all the help they could get.

 

Garret stared at his former captain in the eyes before letting out another deep huff.

 

"Yeah I'll see you... _Bastard_ " Garrett huffed cussing about it in his head.

 

Garrett then turned around and left the hut, Iris placed a hand on Luca shoulder making him look at her" I know you would never hurt me Luca it just..." Iris took a deep breath"...I had flashback of something that I wish I could forget..." She told him grimly.

 

He pressed his palm on her shoulder giving it a light squeeze "I _didn't know what I was doing...I was going with Blue Eyes than all of a sudden It felt as if my brain was mushed"_ he signed explaining the situation.

 

"He made me feel defenseless...what ever he did to me...I don't to feel that way ever again" Iris looked down at the dirt as she rubbed her arms for then mental shiver she felt as she recalled the event with Helios.

 

Luca put his hand behind her neck and brought her forehead to rest against hers. Iris was a little taken back by this but neverless closed her eyes in content.

 

They both stayed in their own stand still for the longest time but then Iris finally pulled away to look at him" I want to check on Mikey...I got a bad feeling " she told him softly.

 

* * *

 

 

Mikey awoke from his slumber to see a place shrouded in darkness, It was blackness swirling and moving.

 

"Where am I?" He whispered to himself afraid of what's here.

 

" Mikey?" a familiar soft voice spoke making him flinch and search where it was coming from.

 

"No not you!" He shivered in fear to see a decomposed chimp a very young one he knew"Ben" he spoke to see the dead chimp limping towards him.

 

"I thought we were friends, why would you kill me!?" He cried.

 

"It wasn't my fault! You were making too much noise they could've spotted us!" Mikey closed his shaking his head.

 

" Mikey?" He heard another familiar voice this time was female.

 

"Grandma?" He wimpered turning to see her sick frail figure.

 

She gave him a weak smile" It's alright my baby..." she said holding his cheek in her hand, the chimp could feel tears flood his eyes as he looked at her...he had missed her so much.

 

She frowned fading to ash"No no! Come back grandma!" He collapsed crying even more pounding the floor "Why" he half-sobbed.

 

" Mikey..." voice called out to him"Mikey..." he could hear it again.

 

It was male this time...It was Onyx as if he was made of smoke "Come to me" he cooed.

 

Mikey backed away " No! get away" he backed away.

 

" Mikey! Mikey! MIKEY!" the chimp was shaking back to reality to see Iris looked at him concern and panic in her eyes as she held his shoulders.

 

"Iris?"Mikey spoke in concern.

 

" Your ok Mikey..." Iris told him softly as she stroked his head" Your ok..." She said as she brought him into a hug.

 

Mikey at first thought she was another hallucination but once he was in her embrace and breathed in her scent he knew she was real making him hug her as he snuggled his face into her shoulder.

 

"Forgive me..." he whispered his shoulders shuddering.

 

Iris rubbed his back" I don't blame you..." She told him softly in his ear" I never did..."

 

Mikey pulled away slightly so he could trail his gaze down Iris stomach. The chimp brought out shakey hesitant hand to touch it. Iris sighed deeply when she was saw this her grab his hand firmly and placed it on her abdomen" they baby isn't going come out and attack you Mikey..." she told him bluntly.

 

"I can't believe this is happening" he sighed feeling the abdomen he wouldn't lie that this felt good, his heartbeat was getting quicker.

 

"Iris look at me, how can I be a father to this child I can barely take care of myself" he said.

 

" And you honestly think I would make good mother..." Iris said as she ran a hand through her hair and took a deep breath" I'm messed up too Mikey...I-I never planned on having children because I didn't want them to go through what I went through..." she told him depressingly.

 

Mikey remembered her mentioning that a long time ago...when the topic of children was brought up Iris would always make it short or would say she wouldn't pass down the" Rodeman Curse" as she would call it. But Mikey remembered how she treated the younger human children and young apes at the AO camp she loved children and was very good with them so he didn't really understand about her reasoning.

 

He then felt a tingling sensation behind the back of his skull something was happening. Iris looked at him with concern when she noticing something was happening with him and Luca frowned as he eyes Mikey carefully.

 

" Mikey what's wrong?" she asked cradling his face in her hands and made him look at her.

 

"F-forgive me" he rasped out grasping her by neck strangling her.

 

Iris one again leathery hands wrapped tightly around her throat and was violently slammed to the group with Mikey on top of her.

 

" M-Mikey.." Iris grunted as she tried to pry the chimps hands of her neck.

 

Luca immeaditly leaped into action at this and tried to yank Mikey off the woman.

 

Mikey grabbed the knife behind him stabbing Luca on the arm "I'm sorry" he wimpered.

 

Iris used this as chance to escape from under him and quickly dragged her self away while looking at Mikey wide in horror" Mikey what's wrong with!?" She yelled at him.

 

Iris tried to get up to check on Luca but he stopped that right away when he signed to her firmly through his pain for her to stay in her spot not wanting Mikey to try to make a move to stab her if she did. Iris could feel herself become sick at the sight of the gorilla blood drop down his furry arm into the dirt of the cell.

 

"Rgh!" Mikey growled trying to slash the knife into Luca's face only for Luca to grab it out of his hand, Luca quickly restrained him calling in Spear.

 

" Spear!...get her out!" he barked at him as held down a struggling Mikey.

 

Spear raised his weapon attempting to stab Iris on her leg making her roll over to the other side of cell in panic. Luca looked at the guard in disbelief at his action.

 

" Spear!...what are!...you doing!?" the gorilla yelled him wondering if he lost his mind.

 

Spear turned his head in silence raising his spear up to stab Luca.

 

Iris tackle him to the ground, yanked his spear away from him and put him into a sleeper hold. Spear tried to rip Iris's arms off him but she kept a firm hold on him not loosening her arm around his neck for second. Soon the chimps struggles began to decease and soon became limp making her let go of him. Iris huffed deeply as she got off him and moved hair that fallen in her face and looked towards Luca who also knocked out his aggressor.

 

Iris went over to the gorilla and brought her hand to touch his injured arm making him wince.

 

" My mom or Tinker should look at this..." she said seriously and then turn to look at the knocked out apes" And them as well..."

 

Iris soon felt tight pain her abdomen her self bend over wrap her arms around it, she gritted her teeth and hissed through her pain as she fell to her knees Luca limped over to her in concern. Iris slowly fell to the ground of the cell on her side as she curled up into a ball in pain she could faintly her the gorilla call out to her. The brunette's world soon went black as she felt herself being lifted off the dirt and into the air.

 

* * *

 

 

Helios was sitting infront his alter nerves getting the best of him. Not only someone has killed some of the guards he had under his control but also Luca, Spear, and Mikey broke out of his hold and failed to kill Iris.

 

Caesar was absolutly livid when found not only was his sister was brutally strangled and passed out to overwhelming stress but also to find out Luca was stabbed. Mikey didn't speak nor did he look up he was in a zombified state ignoring the world around him. The human Carley for the most part hummed to herself yawning in the cage she was in looking up at greyish smoky sky.

 

Do not being part of the council the painted gorilla didn't know much else but he knew that one thing was for clear that woman was still alive...and he also knew that the group wouldn't happy about this speacily since it caused a lot attention and focus now.

 

"The plan must stay the same, I have to keep going...my abilities will be stronger and she must die" he whispered through a recorder.

 

"I will cut the cur out of her belly and slit her throat upon the rocks to dry in the glorious sun...Grey, Red, Onyx I await more from you soon..your apprentice..Mikey is getting strong Onyx you will be proud"recording ends.

 

Helios ran a hand down his face making the paint smear as he went into deep thought "My very life hangs in the balance right now" he thought tracing symbols onto his body smearing more paint.

 

"Grey will be proud" he hummed at the thought.

 

"How is it...so hard...to kill...one human...woman..." voice spoke up from behind the gorilla making him snap around to see a dark haired chimp who walked down wooden steps slowly towards the gorilla" But I'm ...not surprised...she still...have the strong will...in her...that fire..." A spark appeared in the apes eyes when he said this but his smirk was sadistic.

 

Helios eyes widened big recognizing right away.

 

"My Lord" he bowed.

 

Onyx eyed Helios's alter after getting off the last step" I thought...is was...stupid of...to try to use...the angry woman...to kill her...though.." Onyx said as he walked past Helios to get a better look at the alter.

 

" I have to...say way of...life is very...different...and that's coming..from me..." Onyx smirked as he turned around to look at the gorilla.

 

Helios looked up at the chimp a little nervous, the gorilla knew he was half of the size of Oynx but yet he knew about the chimps sadistic and ruthless nature...almost bordered on the insanity.

 

* * *

 

Iris lay asleep in Royal families hut, Cornelia stroked her hair and looked towards her husband who sat deep in thought as he held his head.

 

"Its seems...like the...world is against her..." Cornelia said sadly " both humans and apes..." she then turned her gaze back to the woman and sighed deeply" Caesar...I think...something doesn't feel...right.." She told him.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are another chapter :D and yes Luca didn't kill Iris :) we also learned about some of Money's demons and Grey and Red group strong desire to get rid of her and the disgust they have from the hybrid she carries. Both humans and apes have difficult time accepting something new. I would like to thank my good friend of Marian of cintra for helping me she's awesome :)


	35. Iris's Darkness pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris monologuing....

_Darkness it surrounds us day in and day out....me more then others. I can barely remember the days where humanity was stable, well as stable as they could be or the happier times...humans where never perfect and could be quiet cruel and it didn't help their desire for power and knowledge never full.._

_But soon their quest for knowledge led to their own down fall and chaos arose...chaos has a way bringing out the wrost in anyone or who anyone. I still remember the blood of innocents staining the streets, infected lining up to be culled, soilders stalking the streets, the screams....our world soon became a place to kill or be killed._

_I soon taken and trained to become a butcher...a killer.... When I barely became A teenager...A soilder to fight for the human race....I was tortured and beatened to become" Stronger" as a part of " training" but I wasn't stupid I know   they did it to control me...to make me lose my will...but I never did and I never have them the satisfaction. I fought and kept fighting them making them want to break that will to fight them. Most days I did wanted to give up... sucumb to the darkness I would have to thank Mikey and Zane giving me laughter and comfort.....keeping the darkness at bay speacily Moon...who always listened...who made sure I never lost my will._

_I wanted to end them....I wanted to end the soilders, no the savages reign of slaughter, slavery, and totured. So I burned them and everything belonging to them...but consciencee came from it...many died some deserving others not....it haunts be to this day._

_The darkness was so close to claim me after that but Moon kept me to the light. We both knew it was wrong...we both knew it wouldn't be accepted...we kept trying to deny our feelings....but in the end we couldn't deny them anymore....I loved him...God I loved him so much...my first love...and soon my husband._

_But I soon found out the hard way monsters came in all shapes and forms...we escaped one hell only to be trapped in another one made by Pope and Onyx. He hated me ...God Pope hated me...the only human who wasn't afaird of him...who talked back to him...the one who had" corrupted" some of his kind.He did everything to break me and to destroy my soul and no one took more pleasure in my pain then Onyx....God he was sick...willing to go so far to try force himself on me which not Pope would dare do. Both of them left their marks on me mentally and physically but what finally broke me was when they killed moon right in front of me to save him from my "corruption".....a all too familiar of great pain and loss filled...the same I felt when my father and grandfather died._

_I only remember screaming...screaming so hard that my voice cracked.. Begging for them to spare him...pleading desperately and then the sound of his body hitting the floor. A part of me died that moment...and rage inside of me awoken._

_Pope was eventually killed...by Koba ironically...and then the Bonobo tried to do the same to me...he the one I released my rage on. If it wasn't for Zane wouldn't have snapped out of it....Koba took Pope followers, the primitive apes, Zane and Mikey back with him.  I had a chance to see my brother again...someone I missed so dearly but I left...I could feel the darkness slowly tried to make it way out...I didn't want it to destroy what happiness he created._

_Over the years ghosts of the part continue to haunt me...even when I'm awake...the darkness works hard to sub come....I scream and wail my heart content to the point can't do it anymore....inflict pain and punishment upon myself...trying to drown my demons in alcohol...I've done everything to forget...but I'm still reminded of the pain and suffering of what my father created...I'm still reminded of my relation to him...I'm still reminded of what I've lost...I'm still reminded of my sins...I'm still reminded I've been denounced as human...so what am I?....I feel the darkness closing in..._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys :) sorry if the chapter confused you I basically wanted to show Iris inner turmoil and her demons She battles herself constantly and some days she wonders what's the point anymore. I hope you guys enjoyed it ^^


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